#and hawkfrost was a little more personally hurt

[bonefall]

PLEASE make Whitewater be the one who kills Weaselkit. It would be so (tragically) cool, like just thinking about it reminds me of other amazing BB scenes like the Elderberry and Ferncloud scene but on a smaller, background character scale. It would also be a cool parallel type thing to Spiderleg who attempts to kill his son during the same battle. Obviously Spiderleg and Toadstep don’t personally care about the death of a non-Thunderclan kit, so it’s not like they would be aware of the other family murder happening, but WE would know. And we would be shitting our pants. (I’m a sucker for generational trauma and parents failing to protect their children in fiction please mister bonefall)

I HAVE to do it. It fits too well. It's absolutely shockingly tragic and horrrible. Hell opened up and Owlclaw's worst nightmare came lunging out. I have so many thoughts.

Owlclaw has had a whole life dealing with the neglect and abuse he went through, taking it out on others as a bully, and it's only now seeming to get any better

Mentor Oakfur being even more of a parent to him than any other apprentice he's had, knowing Owlpaw needed it.

Whitewater had FINALLY died. It hurt like nothing else, because in spite of everything he loved his mother... but he was FREE

And maybe she was, too. Maybe in StarClan she could watch over him, perhaps now with distance her memory can be something positive.

There was a time he might have wished suffering on her. But he's going to be a dad, now. He's learned that holding onto grudges never seems to do anything constructive.

He started his new life with Pinenose, still in their honeymoon phase. They're a young couple and everything is moving fast, they're welcoming two little twins.

Weaselkit and... Happykit. He still thinks it's silly, but he said it as a sardonic joke because he couldn't think of a good name and Pinenose beamed. How could he burst her bubble?

He has NO idea that his mother didn't ascend to StarClan. Shes doonstairs. He's daring to assume the best, and she's embracing the worst.

She doesn't need long to be completely onboard with Tigerstar's scheme. She didn't even need a discussion with Hawkfrost. The only reason StarClan would throw her down here is because there's a problem.

So, she'll put it right.

The IMMEDIATE validation she feels seeing Harespring training in the Dark Forest is intoxicating. They ARE cursed!! One of them already found its way here!

(AND the spawn of that damn TRAITOR, Crowfeather. The bastard who betrayed Mudclaw's coup.)

Harespring started training here out of curiosity, and a speck of heresy to be totally honest. He wanted to know his biofather, Mudclaw, and StarClan couldn't be all that wonderful if it would allow his brother Kestrelflight to be forced into the Cleric's den so young.

But NOW, having met Mudclaw and hearing his side of the story, and now WHITEWATER landing here as well...

...he has never had stronger faith in StarClan before. Mudclaw was horrible enough. Whitewater is unhinged.

There is no doubt in his mind that these two belong here. The sad stories are outweighed by cases like these, so in his opinion, there SURELY must be things he doesn't know about innocuous cats like Houndleap and Featherwhisker.

He hates coming here, every moment he's trapped with one of his bioparents is a moment he wishes he was spending with papa Torear.

Harespring betrays the Dark Forest the minute he has a chance to. But it doesn't stop Whitewater.

Weaselkit's death happened so fast and they were so young that Happykit can barely remember it. Was it after Dustpelt crunched? ...he thinks it was during.

I can't imagine Happykit will be told about Whitewater until he's much older, but... he knows Weaselkit's death is what drives the wedge between his parents

(Of course that's too simple to be correct. Happy's smart in the way that you get when you have to grow up quick, but still a kid at the end of the day. Owlclaw backslid into old, destructive ways. Pinenose can't handle him and their child and her grief at the same time. They were a young couple to begin with. It shattered like glass.)

I'm not sure who dealt with Whitewater during the Battle of the True Eclipse, but she is definitely double dead. Part of me wants to make it Spikefur, Pinenose's next mate. But Owlclaw dealing with his mother a minute too late, after FINALLY finding peace with it all, is also gut-wrenching.

[exocynraku]

Okay listen, who’s your LEAST favorite warrior cat? Give me the Ted Talk on why they’re the Worst please

a lot of the characters i dislike i dislike because they had a GREAT concept and it was executed BAD or in a way i didn't like. specifically, i'll highlight lionblaze. he's probably not my LEAST favourite of all time but he's one i very much dislike I believe more could have been done with his power & the fact he trained in the dark forest. that is the sole reason i dislike him. is because so little was done with that. What I would've liked is seeing his time in the dark forest change him as a person and thru tigerclaw & hawkfrost's will have him kill more people both in the dark forest (he only killed shredtail) and outside of the dark forest (he only killed russetfur and harestar). He would have had to sit with these deaths and understand that his ability is both a blessing and a curse. He may be destined to fight during the great battle using his ability to prevent the fall of the clans but what point would it make it so many innocent need to die from him in the process? he should shut himself off cast himself away and become a shell of who he was. He would've had to sit with the fact that the sole purpose of his existence as one of the three was to hurt others. that is his power. to physically harm others and to mentally scar the ones who lives and the family & friends of those he has killed.

That is why starclan chose for lion's roar to be reborn. this is why he could not have spent his days as the person he used to be. He has killed people and that is what he has to live with. But at the same time, his views on the world changed during his time in the dark forest. There is life after death. What point is there in fearing death if you know there is something afterwards? When there is life after death, death is an escape. Similarly, his knowledge of starclan has changed his views. How could the cats he's killed hold a grudge to him if starclan is so wonderful? so grand, so powerful. you can see those who you know who've passed on and learn the stories of those long forgotten. In his world, death is new life. When you die and join the ranks of starclan, you are just a measly speck of thousands of warriors who've come and gone. Death is an opportunity to live a new life. So what do those who he has killed have to fear? have to be mad at him for? they may lose those who are still alive, but they will join them eventually. but, there are no answers to these questions. they are subjective, grand and have no definitive answer. the answers he decides on will be entirely different than the people's around hims. and this is what he is going to have to live with. his life is rhetorical. His powers had meaning, but after the great battle he loses that. so who is he? well, he is cat who is loud and brash. quick to make an a opinion and unafraid to speak his opinion on another person. he is a cog in the machine of clan life, hunting, sleeping, mating, mentoring, it's the same every day now. someone else is chosen for prophecy. the purpose for his existence is gone now. he's just someone who exists. someone who does things, but doesn't exactly understand why. he yells at others and scowls at them, he sits on the sidelines watching cats like bristlefrost, rootspring, shadowsight, twigbranch, violetshine, and frostpaw as their lives move on. they are similar to him, not exact, in a way that starclan is watching them more than they are watching the rest of the clans. he wants that attention, he wants that feeling again. he is jealous of them. he goes about his days after the great battle as someone who has been scarred from his time alive. he is rude and loud, menacing, his physical scars a remnant of the person he used to be- the person who was destined for greatness. the scars he has now are twisted, a scourge on his skin as they show the person he has become as he has lost purpose. he has thousands of questions, and hundreds of thousands of subjective answers. no one is there to answer them. the life he has lived is one he will have to life with until he dies. that is the cat i wished for lionblaze to be. while he has his powers, he doesn't understand the morality around why he has them and how they shape him as a person, but after he loses them he doesn't how to continue living without a purpose. he knows nothing of the world and nothing of himself, but he KNOWS that, and he sits with that. these concepts, these ideas, the answers to his questions he has come up with sit inside him and fester, showing themselves to the world every time he yells at one of his friends and hurts someone during battle. he is an angry man. he is an angry man who hurts other people not out of malice but out of yearning for meaning. that is what i want out of lionblaze's character. but, that's not what they did with him, and that's why i dislike him.

[mallowstep]

Reedpaw didn't know what to do. He'd told Mudfur what he saw that night in the apprentices den, but nothing had happened. Now, watching Hawkpaw seemingly fight something-another cat?!?-in his sleep, Reedpaw wished he knew what to do. His mom, Mistyfoot, always seemed to know what to do when things seemed bad, and she was always confident. Reedpaw flinched as Hawkpaw whimpered and whispered something--wait! -- that was a name the fur on Reedpaw's shoulder's fluffed up and his eyes widened. Tigerstar? Why was Hawkpaw dreaming about Tigerstar? The apprentice curled up, covering his eyes with his tail. Closing his eyes, the apprentice promised himself to talk to Mudfur tomorrow about spirits training cats, and if they could do it without Starclan's permission--and without the living cat's permission, either.

me: i need to go to bed

also me: answering this ask is a good idea

look i am approximately 15 minutes away from calm music so i think it is.

god yes! yes. good stuff here. i like. ah. okay. i dunno. reedpaw is maybe...doing math doing math...nearly six moons younger than them, i'd say. maybe this is around when feathertail and stormheart "disappear"?

(Reedpaw is going to ask Mistyfoot about it, because she'd know what to do. He sees Hawkpaw wake, somehow more tired than when he crawled into his nest, and he is decided.

"--just vanish!" Mistyfoot shouts. "It's Feathertail!"

He narrows his eyes. Feathertail is Hawkpaw's mother, and his older sister, and probably should have been higher on his list of cats to talk to.

"Mistyfoot, wherever she is, Stormheart is probably with her," Stonefur soothes. "They can't have gone far."

Reedpaw's denmates stumble out behind him.

"What's going on?" Mothpaw asks, yawning.

"Mistyfoot and Stonefur are arguing," Hawkpaw says. "She mentioned Feathertail."

"Great," Mothpaw groans. "Last time they were arguing about Feathertail..." She trails off, and Reedpaw ignores the urge to ask her what happened. Hawkpaw and Frogpaw clearly already know.

"So we'll send out a patrol to search for them," Stonefur says. "Where's -- is Shadepelt in camp?"

"Hey," Frogpaw says, "look at this." Reedpaw looks back, and he wraps his paw around a stone carefully. "Reedpaw, you didn't bring this in, did you?"

He shakes his head.

"Stones are Feathertail's thing anyway," Mothpaw says. "She likes the ones on the riverbed."

Reedpaw's denmates all look at one another, something unspoken passing between them.

"Dawnflower can lead the morning hunt," Mistyfoot says, "Skyheart, Blackclaw, one border each."

"Who do you want us to take?"

Mistyfoot flicks her tail. Stonefur presses his nose against her shoulder. She blinks a few times. "Dawnflower can take...Sunfish and Loudbelly. Skyheart, Blackclaw, you can pick who you want."

They nod.

"Hey, Reedpaw," Mothpaw says gently, "would you mind running a message to Mistyfoot?"

"She's right there."

"Yeah, I know. Just -- do you mind?"

He shakes his head.

"Okay. Just tell her we think Feathertail left us the stone, and Frogpaw isn't sure, but he thinks he saw her just before moonhigh. Got that?"

Reedpaw nods. Mothpaw licks the top of his head. "You're the best, Reedpaw."

"What about me?" Hawkpaw says, and Mothpaw bats at his ear.

Reedpaw trots through camp, sitting in front of Mistyfoot.

"Hey, Reedpaw," she says. "Everything alright?"

"Are you okay?"

She purrs, touching noses with him. "Just worried about Feathertail. It's not like her to run off. But -- I'm fine, love."

"About Feathertail -- there was a new stone in our den and Mothpaw says she thinks Feathertail left it, and Frogpaw says he thinks he saw her just before moonhigh."

Mistyfoot narrows her eyes.

"I'll talk to them," Stonefur says. "You can look for her."

"Thanks." Mistyfoot brushes her temple against Stonefur, and then against Reedpaw. "I'll be back soon," she promises.

"Can I come with you?"

She blinks, considering. "Ask Petaldust, but if she says yes, you can.")

that's Unrelated i just started rambling. i like writing mistyfoot.

(It happens again that night.

Hawkpaw huffs in his sleep, shifting. With everything going on, and Mistyfoot so upset over Feathertail and Stormheart's disappearance, this had slipped his mind. He'd talk to her when they found Feathertail, he told himself.)

but of course, they don't find feathertail. and -- hawkpaw, soon hawkfrost, becomes a smaller and smaller worry,

(Reedpaw bunts against Mistyfoot. She purrs softly, but doesn't move.

"Mistyfoot?"

She flicks her tail. Stonefur nudges his shoulder. "Let's give her some space," he says, softly. "I think Petaldust wanted to take you hunting.")

and their prey is dwindling,

("Mistyfoot, you need to eat," Stonefur says.

"Dawnflower needs to eat," she hisses. "I'll be fine."

Reedpaw's ears pin back. This is the third day in the row they've had this argument. Everyone is hungry, and it makes them angry and scared.)

so he forgets about hawkfrost, until

("Tigerstar," Hawkfrost babbles in sleep. Reedpaw sits up. He hasn't been awake for one of these moments in a long time, but hunger and fear has made light sleepers of them all.

He slices his claws through a piece of moss. This is a worse time than ever to bring it up, and yet--

Hawkfrost whines, his hindlegs kicking at an invisible enemy.

--it seems serious.)

so he finally finds a good moment to talk to mistyfoot.

("Can I -- ask you about something?"

Mistyfoot tilts her head. Reedpaw presses his forehead to her shoulder.

"About...I'm not sure, actually."

"Well, I can't promise I have an answer." She presses her nose to the top of her head. "But you can ask."

"Hawkfrost has been having these dreams," he says. "For a while -- I just, things have been so busy, and...anyway." He takes a breath, steadying his resolve. "He keeps having injuries that I don't think he got in training, and sometimes he talks, and..."

"What does he say?"

Reedpaw shifts. "It's kind of hard to tell how he means it," he couches, but Mistyfoot takes a step back, and Reedpaw folds under her gaze. "Tigerstar," he says. "He keeps saying Tigerstar."

Mistyfoot's ears fold back. She closes her eyes. Her tail tucks around her legs. "Thank you for telling me," she says, quietly. "I'll take care of it from here.")

not sure how that Resolves tbh. but. i don't know. maybe...

("Why wouldn't you talk to me first?" Hawkfrost hisses, and Reedpaw flinches.

"Hawkfrost," Mothwing cautions, "he didn't mean any harm."

"You see how you feel about it when Mistyfoot is asking you about Tigerstar," Hawkfrost says. "It was just a fucking nightmare."

His tail bristles, and Mothwing looks sympathetically at Reedpaw.

"I didn't know what to do!" he says. "And -- I don't know, you didn't seem like you wanted to talk about it."

"Yeah, no shit," Hawkfrost says. "Sorry, Reedpaw, but I don't generally feel like talking about Tigerstar."

"So what was I supposed to do?"

"Leave it be!" Hawkfrost paces for a moment, then huffs. "As if Feathertail being gone wasn't bad enough."

"She's not gone," Frogpaw says. "Just -- missing."

"It's been over a moon," Hawkfrost says. "She's gone. And someone had to tell Mistyfoot about Tigerstar, so I got to hear the, He was your father and this isn't to say you're a bad cat, but he was terrible lecture again."

Reedpaw freezes. "Tigerstar was your father?"

Hawkfrost stares at him, open-mouthed.

"Alright," Mothwing says. "That's enough. Hawkfrost, this isn't Reedpaw's fault. Everyone is hungry and no one is thinking clearly. Including Mistyfoot. Go -- find something for Dawnflower to eat, I don't know."

Hawkfrost bristles, but doesn't argue. When he's crossed over the river, Mothwing looks back at him. "Frogpaw, you want to be here for this?"

He flicks his tail. "You know Stonefur would explain if we asked him."

"Here or not?" she asks.

"Here." He sits up, licking her shoulder. "Thistle for brains -- did you think I'd let you do it alone?"

Reedpaw shifts, trying to figure out what's going on. No one has confirmed what Hawkfrost says, and he doesn't know how to understand it.

Mothwing and Frogpaw touch foreheads, before Mothwing turns back to him. Her eyes are a brilliant gold. Feathertail has blue eyes, Reedpaw thinks, like Hawkfrost and Frogpaw, but not like Mothwing.

She's not solid like Frogpaw, and Mothwing and Hawkfrost both have denser markings than her.

"No one told you who our father was?" Mothwing asks softly. "It's okay if they didn't."

Reedpaw folds an ear. He doesn't know who his father is. Dawnflower's close to kitting and as far as he knows, her kits won't have a father either.

Mothwing sighs. "Well -- yeah, it was Tigerstar."

"But he was evil."

Mothwing flinches, and Frogpaw wraps his tail around her. "We're pretty aware of that," he says. "Feathertail took us in, but...do you remember what Tigerstar did?"

"He wanted to...combine the Clans," Reedpaw says. "Into one, claiming it'd make them all stronger. He was ShadowClan's leader, and Leopardstar agreed, but he was just hungry for power."

"More or less," Frogpaw says. "Stonefur'd probably cover the details better than we would, but...Tigerstar decided half-Clan cats were all traitors, like Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Feathertail, and Stormheart."

He pauses, and this time, Mothwing jumps in, "So -- all four of them were unfairly...treated. Punished? Hurt? I don't -- he was cruel to the four of them, but especially Mistyfoot and Feathertail."

Reedpaw begins to understand. "I didn't mean to cause trouble for you," he says. "I was just worried about Hawkfrost."

"I know," Mothwing says. "And when he's not so angry, he'll realize that too." She purrs, licking the top of his head. "You didn't do anything wrong, Reedpaw. You were right to be worried.")

yeah. there we go. i'm going to bed for real now, i hope y'all enjoyed nearly 1.5k words of reedpaw being younger than his denmates against.

[sunset-embers-warriors-designs]

I have several ideas about how I would have written Starclan’s function in warriors and I MUST write them down I must express them. I have two different ideas, one in which I maintain the canon fact that Starclan cats can fade/be killed, and another in which I do away with the fading thing.

First, a few things I would want for Starclan regardless of whether or not the spirits can fade: 

- All cats, regardless of the age they die at, are given a full warrior name. Kits or apprentices who die early are either named by their leaders at their vigil and carry that name to Starclan, or they’re named by Starclan spirits. 

- After a leader dies, the -star suffix is removed and they return to using their warrior suffix as a Starclan spirit. Perhaps the -star suffix is given up right at the moment of death, or the -star suffix is given up after the leader ceremony of the succeeding leader to indicate an official transfer of leadership.

- The point behind everyone having a warrior name in Starclan as opposed to any of the “determined by status” suffixes (kit/apprentice/leader) is to further express that all cats are equal in Starclan. There aren’t any clan borders in Starclan’s hunting grounds, and neither should there be different ranks.

No Fading Starclan:

- Cats in No Fading Starclan are given otherworldly wisdom upon entering Starclan, regardless of the age of the cat. All of Starclan shares the same knowledge of the past/present/future.

- However, this knowledge takes a form such that Starclan aren’t able to express it to the living in clear and understandable ways, which is why they speak in riddles when delivering prophecies. Like Starclan is trying to translate some kind of language of the universe into meows and at most it does like a google translate quality.

- Individual Starclan cats each have a limited amount of spiritual/magical energy which they can use to interact with the living world. The longer the clans all exist, the more manpower Starclan has, which explains why their abilities from arc 1 to arc 4 grow from “clouding over the moon during gatherings” to “entering the living realm to fight a ghost battle.” 

- Similarly, the Dark Forest spirits have their own kind of energy that grows the more cats they have in their realm. However, as a punishment for their sins, they don’t get their godly wisdom, and their ability to reach out to the living is a little foggy. They ARE, however, able to latch on to cats who have negative energy surrounding them, and will try to bring troubled souls into their ranks prior to their deaths so they can gain more energy when those cats DO die.

- In this AU, spirits can’t be killed, so the Starclan/Dark Forest battle ghost casualties (Tigerstar, Hawkfrost, Spottedleaf) will not have died. Instead, the buildup to the battle is the Dark Forest attempting to take power from Starclan by reaching out en masse to the troubled living cats with the end goal of “replacing” or at least being on par with Starclan in terms of power, in order to maybe fight their way into the good afterlife or continue reeking havoc as revenge on Starclan/the living. The battle itself is then the Dark Forest’s attempt to overthrow Starclan and gain control over the living clans to ensure they stay in power. Ivypool’s role of convincing her fellow Dark Forest trainees to fight for their clans/Starclan instead then takes away the power the Dark Forest had built up for itself, and having this rejection of the Dark Forest’s influence become a part of the clan’s history/culture keeps the Dark Forest from rising back up. Not to mention, the Dark Forest having used to much energy to manifest and do battle will have left them drained, especially after their defeat, and even if Dark Forest cats have the ability to replenish their individual powers somehow, it would take a long time to do it.

- Spottedleaf continues to exist, as previously mentioned, but as a general rule in every single one of my AUs she and Firestar aren’t romantically interested in one another at all. The only interest Spottedleaf would ever have had in Firestar was because the “Fire Alone Will Save Our Clan” prophecy was Her prophecy, she was the one to interpret it, and she felt responsible to see it through even after her death. When Firestar dies in the battle, Spottedleaf feels that her role in that prophecy is finally through and she just does regular Starclan cat things like climbing starry trees and eating ghost mice.

- In the case of the great battle, spirits who have manifested on the physical plane I think should still have the ability to kill the living, so the deaths in the great battle still happen just for the sake of being consistent with who’s alive in what arc.

- Also regarding the great battle, perhaps Tigerstar’s spirit can kill Firestar’s mortal form, gloat about it, but then Firestar’s spirit rises up and with his Starclan Spirit Powers he takes Tigerstar down. I just think that would have been cool.

Fading Starclan:

- In Fading Starclan, there are actually two levels of Starclan, but the living clans only KNOW about one. The living clans know Lower Starclan, the Starclan made up of recently dead/not-faded spirits who impart the prophecies onto the living. Lower Starclan are Also recipients of the prophecies they then translate to the clans, but they don’t fully understand them and believe these premonitions to be coming from some essence of the universe. 

- In fact, the prophecies are first foretold by Upper Starclan, which is made up of the energies of the faded spirits. Upper Starclan spirits, since they’re faded, lack the identities they had in life and are more accurately interpreted as a hivemind. Like a God with a million faces. Upper Starclan are the ones who block the moon with clouds, control the weather, and do stuff like set fires in the living world to impart prophecy.

- Lower Starclan functions more like a transitional spiritual plane. It’s a place for the spirits to rest from their mortal lives, and then eventually shed their previous personalities and ascend. Lower Starclan being given the prophecies first to then give to the living gives the living cats more reason to listen, because these messages are coming from spirits who are still personable and likely cats who the living interpreters knew and respected in life.

- The Dark Forest is a place to hide away the spirits of cats who would impede on the goals of Upper Starclan. They eventually fade away too and are permitted into Upper Starclan because they’re no longer a threat without their mortal memories/personalities getting in the way of their roles as God(s). 

- The Tribe of Endless Hunting’s spirits also fade away into Upper Starclan because the two groups have the same origin. Like Endless Hunting and Lower Starclan manifested because of the split in the groups and Upper Starclan just said “Okay We can work with this”

- True Reincarnations only occur when an Upper Starclan spirit returns to a mortal form. Jay’s Wing, Lion’s Roar, and Dove’s Wing’s spirits had all faded into Upper Starclan but were reborn as new mortals in order to fulfill the Power of Three Prophecy. This also explains why they have “the power of the stars”, they were part of the Cat God Collective prior. Cinderpelt/Cinderheart was a “reincarnation” that was NOT sanctioned by Upper Starclan, which is why Cinderpelt and Cinderheart have separate souls. 

- The reason the Power of Three thing happened was because Upper Starclan saw their Dark Forest Timeout corner spirits being naughty and worried that those spirits weren’t as out of the way and not hurting their goals as previously presumed. The battle was orchestrated to reinstate faith in Starclan and have some of the more troublesome Dark Forest Spirits fade so they would stop causing trouble. Technically, Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and Hawkfrost are all part of Upper Starclan after the great battle, but none of them have those identities anymore, or at the very least, those identities are not “in use.”

- The only spirits that can walk in Both Upper and Lower Starclan are legendary/historical figures like the clan founders and probably other significant cats who have legends made of their life experiences. 

- Goosefeather, by some mistake or intention(?) was granted a mental connection to Upper Starclan instead of just Lower Starclan like other medicine cats, which is why his visions were so intense and so far into the future, and just the sheer number of them. He could see Lower Starclan spirits as well like Beetail because I guess if you can connect to Upper Starclan than Lower Starclan is just a side effect. 

- Spiresight and Shadowsight might also have this connection to Upper Starclan? Idk I can’t decide. Shadowsight did as a kit at least, but perhaps Upper Starclan decided to chill after seeing how poorly Goosefeather’s connection turned out for him.

- Upper Starclan’s concept otherwise is very vague. Their goals seem to be to ensure the continuation of the clans, which ensures their growth and power, but power for what reason? idk what to do with that

Since the Broken Code arc isn’t complete at this time I’m not sure what direction I wanna take for either Fading or Not Fading Starclan to explain Starclan’s disappearance or Ashfur’s ability to mess with other spirits... perhaps in the Fading version, Ashfur is the one Lower Starclan cat to discover Upper Starclan and figures out how to tap into his full spiritual ability before shedding his mortal personality and uses this to cause chaos. idk what to say for Not Fading rn tho

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Hawkfrost Is The Father Of The Three, And Ferncloud Raises Them With Dustpelt AU

So

I don't ship these two, nor can I picture these two in any sort of healthy relationship because of just how bad Hawkfrost is

that being said

tw; manipulation, gr**ming and abuse

I'm also going to be combining it with this AU request cause they ended up feeling like they fit together

During one of her visits to talk to Mothwing, Leafpaw comes face to face with Hawkfrost. She's very cautious about the tom, knowing his own sister doesn't trust him, but he comes off as charming and charismatic

She asks him politely not to tell on her being here and he responds with being rather flirty, assuring he'd never let such a cute she-cat get in trouble, flustering her and causing her to run off

Leafpaw in confused as she personally hasn't had any cat flirt with her, as everyone knows they're not supposed to with her being a medicine cat apprentice

She ends up getting more and more curious about this tom while her sister is off on her adventure with the chosen cats and takes to trying to casually watch him whenever she can, namely while gathering herbs near the border or soaking moss

He's quick to notice

One of the times while she's alone, he confronts her about watching her, saying if she wanted to see more of him, she could just ask She tries to object, shaking away these weirdly uncomfortable feelings, but he gives her a very affectionate lick before leaving, causing her even more confusion

Hawkfrost works hard to earn her positive favor, leaving little gifts such as herbs, prey, and other small things where he usually sees her. Leafpaw, unsure of what else to do, ends up accepting these gifts.

He also starts giving her these gifts in person, causing her to struggle with what she knew She trusts Mothwing, who says Hawkfrost has done bad things But Hawkfrost is showing he's not a bad cat after all

After some time, Hawkfrost starts making little comments, namely against the company Leafpaw usually kept when she wasn't alone "Sorreltail just tries to act like she's better than you by taking control of situations, huh?" "Cinderpelt really doesn't trust you to gather herbs alone?" "Brightheart seems to be more worried about her daughter than she does helping medicine cats, doesn't she?"

Over time Leafpaw is filled with more confusion and doubt and starts spending less and less time near camp Hawkfrost still visits her often and, after the chosen have come back, he starts getting more physically affectionate towards her, sharing tongues with her and having her cuddle with him

Leafpaw still has doubts but she's conflicted about them

On the journey to the lake, after this had been going on for some time, Leafpaw opens up to Squirrelpaw about what's been going on and Squirrelpaw immediately doesn't like or trust Hawkfrost, especially when Leafpaw expresses some doubts about him but is quick to excuse them

She brings Squirrelpaw's feelings up to Hawkfrost and he's quick to try to turn her against her sister, making her rather uncomfortable as she's sure her sister is the only cat she truly trusts

They get to the lake territories and Hawkfrost tries to convince Leafpaw to join RiverClan, but she declines, stating her family is in ThunderClan and that she doesn't want to leave them

Despite his pressuring and her unsure feelings, she does still visit him as often as she can, sneaking around territories because she doesn't have many cats to talk to since she dropped almost all her friendships for him

Leafpool and Squirrelflight have their full names when the in-fighting in WindClan gets worse

When the WindClan coup happens and Mudclaw states Hawkfrost as one who helped him and Leafpool quickly turns to Mothwing, whom she had been hanging out with less and less, and asks her if this is true

Mothwing, though rightfully hurt by Leafpool leaving her alone, confirms the ThunderClan she-cat's fears and Leafpool goes to confront Hawkfrost

Hawkfrost tries denying at first and even tries to brush it off and be casual as he tries to show her more physical affection, but she hisses at him and demands the truth

There's a long bit where he dodges the truth, before he gives up trying to be nice and tells her, bluntly, that Tigerstar had told him to 'get her out of the picture' by any means And he was 'trying to be nice' and not kill her, since Mothwing liked her, and then blames her for 'what happens next' and attacks Leafpool

Thankfully Squirrelflight caught wind, thanks to Mothwing, and comes to her sister's rescue, attacking the tom and running off with a wounded Leafpool by her side

Leafpool is in shock and sick to her stomach with what Hawkfrost said and did She tells her sister everything, including that she was still seeing him after Squirrelflight told her to stop and how he wanted her to no longer talk to Squilf and join RiverClan.

When the two bring this to Brambleclaw, the tom is skeptical and doesn't trust what they're saying, and when he brings this up to Hawkfrost, he's less clear about how to feel.

Hawkfrost's death goes down the same as canon.

Leafpool finds out she's pregnant and is horrified, as she knows that the only option of the father is her abuser

Squirrelflight, despite being single [as Brambleclaw's dismissal of her sister's abuse and Ashfur's babying of her pushed her away from both toms], insists on helping her as she's worried for Leafpool

There is a lot of debate and the two end up accidentally being overheard by Ferncloud. She doesn't ask questions, seeing the distressed look on Leafpool's face and simply states that she'll adopt the kits as if they were her own. She even manages to convince her mate, Dustpelt, to agree, though he thinks he's adopting Squirrelflight's kits and not the halfClan kits of a medicine cat as Ferncloud is aware it would've been harder to talk him into it otherwise

Three kits are born in secret - a brown and white tabby tom, a tortoiseshell tabby she-cat, and a mostly white tom with brown patches. Ferncloud names the first on Finchkit, Squirrelflight names the second one Hollykit, and Leafpool names the last one Lionkit hoping the tom will be strong enough to outlive his unfortunate circumstances. In this AU Icekit and Foxkit are born a couple moon earlier than they were in canon and are a couple days younger than the Three.

They bring the kits home and Dustpelt immediately dotes over the five of them, not even caring which ones might be Squirrelflight's and which ones might be his. He doesn't even tell any of the kits otherwise. To him they are his five wonderful kits.

Ferncloud and Dustpelt are wonderful parents to the kits, Dustpelt teaching them the importance of tradition while Ferncloud teaches them to care about others

TPoT goes through canon somewhat normally, aside from Finchpaw being confused on why he was able to see a prophecy about Firestar's kin when he isn't related at all to Firestar. However, once Lionpaw is training in the Dark Forest, he is confused when Hawkfrost refers to Lion, Finch, and Holly as his kits

Hawkfrost reveals the secret, wanting Lionpaw to know that the Clan isn't being entirely truthful.

Lionpaw isn't sure how to feel about this

He confronts Ferncloud and Dustpelt. Dustpelt is shocked to hear Leafpool's name, but there's only a minor argument about lying with a promise to be truthful in the future, as Ferncloud admits it's not her story to tell and he understands.

Lionpaw, Finchpaw, and Hollypaw are taken with Dustpelt to talk to Leafpool, where she opens up about the abuse she faced at Hawkfrost's paws and how he used her. Dustpelt, who came in angry, is more understanding at the end as he remembers how Tigerstar, Hawkfrost's father, hurt his brother, Ravenpaw to the point of running away

The apprentices are confused, asking if she wanted them, and she assured it had nothing to do with them and more to do with the tom that sired them

When Lionpaw expresses anger towards Leafpool, Dustpelt scolds him, telling the tom that the hardest thing for a queen to do is give up kits and telling him that it was brave for Leafpool

Lionpaw confronts Hawkfrost and is lied to and the apprentice storms off, not wanting to hear it once the Dark Forest warrior starts bad-talking Ferncloud and Dustpelt

Hollypaw struggles with the news, as she was raised that medicine cats should never have kits, but her father is being forgiving of this on exception She ends up talking with Ferncloud about it and gaining an understanding that things happen out of anther cat's control and they can't help it

Finchpaw and Leafpool come to an agreement that he doesn't have to think of her as his mother and that Ferncloud was the one who raised and cared for him better than she could He still knows, but he accepts that he was adopted and is alright with that, as it gave him a family he needed

This is as far as I got mentally with this, but there's no big secret, though Ashfur being a problem can probably still be a plot or something

idk

a lot of these plots revolve around TPoT, so there's only so much new I can add dsakhf

[vixen-flower]

Shadowsight Should Kill Ashfur, Here’s Why

I know he’s a medicine cat but hear me out — out of all the cats (except Squirrelflight. If she does it I am also fine lol) it makes the most sense and would be the most interesting for him to kill Ashfur.

Here’s why :

We haven’t had a protagonist kill a villain since DOTC / NP

Iirc, the last time we got a protagonist in main series kill a villain was Thunder and One-eye. One-eye wasn’t a villain on the level of Darktail or Ashfur though, so we could go even further back to NP and say that Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost’s battle was the last time we had a built-up fight between a protagonist and a villain. While Hollyleaf killed Ashfur, this was not something we saw on screen. It would be interesting to have one of our protagonists kill Ashfur.

Shadowsight has the most connection to Ashfur outside of the protagonists

Shadowsight is a better candidate than Bristlefrost or Rootspring because he has the most connection to Ashfur. I probably don’t need to explain this part much, but obviously he was manipulated, abused, and hurt by Ashfur. It would be much more emotional to watch a fight between Shadowsight and Ashfur than Rootspring and Ashfur, especially since the latter pair barely know each other / interact and it would feel like any other villain take-down. But Shadowsight *knows* Ashfur. We’ve been built-up to this. Shadowsight has a personal reason to be angry at Ashfur. It would be a good character moment for him.

Shadowsight would be able to rid himself of his guilt

Shadowsight this arc has been very passionate about fixing what he started & is extremely guilty for what he’s done. Killing Ashfur is the best way to “fix what he started.” I’m really not sure how he could do so if he didn’t. Saving StarClan is great, but that’s not something Shadowsight himself caused. Saving Bramblestar might be another way he could “fix what he started,” but that’s already happened, and Rootspring saved Bramblestar, not him. I feel like this is the last option for him to redeem himself. Not just for other cats, but to himself.

Shadowsight would have to do the one thing he was hesitant to do

Shadowsight himself has always been pretty non-violent until he has been forced to. Example, he tried to avoid getting in a fight in TPONS until he saw Squirrelflight in danger, to which he attacked Ashfur because he had no other choice. Having a passive character like Shadowsight have to kill is SO much more interesting than having a warrior character do it. Especially as a medicine cat, especially one who is so vehemently opposed to killing, I wonder how he would dealing with killing Ashfur, even if he is a horrible person. Shadowsight tries to avoid fighting but gets drawn to it anyways. It’s just more unexpected from him. While a final battle between Ashfur + Shadowsight would be more interesting if Bramblestar was still possessed (imagine — Shadowsight has to kill Bramblestar, the very thing he tried to avoid all arc!), it still seems like the best option to me story-wise.

Shadowsight has fought him before

Er, kind of. Ashfur tried to kill Shadowsight at the end of TST. Then, in TPONS, Shadowsight attacked Ashfur. He did a little better than the last time, but he still got gravely injured. He did, however, manages to help Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. It would be interesting if we got a third and final fight between these two where Shadowsight finally wins, once and for all. I feel like, with protagonist vs villain fights, we’ve never seen the protagonist lose twice in a fight before. It would be another interesting development to see Shadowsight finally win against Ashfur after so many loses and so much build-up.

Anyways, here are the other candidates for Ashie-Murderer and why it shouldn’t be them

1. Rootspring (He has no connection to Ashfur and it’s really just not subversive. Ashfur has not hurt him personally, it would be a generic hero story)

2. Bristlefrost (Tbh I think Bristlefrost could’ve been a good candidate too since she spied for Ashfur/Manipulated by him, but truth be told, it’s not on the same level of Shadowsight and Ashfur’s relationship. Also, her character has been kinda sidelined the past few books. It would be strange for a final battle between Bristlefrost and Ashfur with no build-up)

3. Bramblestar (I feel like dude has had his time to shine and there are better, newer characters who could kill Ashfur. He has had the development, he doesn’t need more. Frankly, I’m tired of this dude)

4. Squirrelflight (Well I’m fine with her doing it, she has even more reasons than Shadowsight. If it can’t be Shadowsight, it should be her, or else I’ll be very mad lol. Unrelated, but have you noticed how women in warriors barely ever fight with the main villain??? wtf??)

5. Snowtuft (While Ashfur stole his home + Snowtuft could redeem himself by ending Ashfur, I just feel like he hasn’t been developed enough to have such an important role. It would be shitty if such an important role in the story was handed off to a side-character. I’m gonna be honest, Snowtuft’s redemption isn’t really a redemption because we don’t know what he did / he doesn’t really face consequences. He’s already a good cat now. He’s interesting, but not enough to end the TBC conflict that he *just* got involved in)

6. Someone else??? (Stemleaf??? Idk man maybe his ghost spirits do a Scar and all group together to eat him. That’d be kinda metal ngl, and a bit subversive for warriors?)

I know medicine cats don’t get involved in fights, but gosh — it would be so good storywise for Shadowsight to do so. I’m crossing my fingers. I don’t think it’ll happen — I feel like Rootspring and Bramblestar are all more likely, but if it does happen, I’ll do a happy dance :]

[theanoninyourinbox]

Longstar AU Three to Tango part 2

Sorry this bit took longer, had some personal issues to deal with, but we’re all good now.  I also realized I added a plot point too early, and removed it.  Alright back to cats!

While out hunting, Cinderpaw falls from a tree, injuring her hind leg.  Lionpaw carries her back to camp, and brings back a strange stick as well, saying he just thought it was neat.  Fireheart is worried that due to her being a reincarnation of a crippled warrior, that she might have similar leg problems.  Lionpaw butts in, saying that she’s not the same cat; even if her spirit resides in Cinderpaw, Cinderpelt is a far different cat.  Darkmoon is touched by this wisdom, but then looks at Lionpaw to see him staring off into space, with the AOL dialup tone playing.  Canon continues until...

Riverclan!  They proclaim their camp is unusable, and Jaypaw sneaks over to see a bunch of twoleg kits running around.  Unfortunately he’s caught, but it’s Uncle Hawkfrost, who just sends him home with a stern warning.  A few nights later, Lionpaw has a strange dream about tunnels, and an orange-and-white tomcat, and a nearly hairless elder.  Canon continues until...

The Windclan kits go missing, and the Three join Breezepaw and Heatherpaw to look for them.  They find the kits in the tunnels, but the water begins to rise.  Lionpaw, remembering his dream, tosses the kits on his back and leads everyone to safety.  Canon continues until...

The Tribe!  It goes mostly as canon, but with the Three bonding with their father, trying to get him to bond with  Breezepaw somewhat successfully, and immediately adopting Purdy as their “Gramps”.  Crowfeather, Tawnypelt, Foxflight, and Stormfur rekindle their friendship, with Tawnypelt apologizing to Foxflight about Brambleclaw, and all four reuniting with Feathertail.  While watching battle training, Lionpaw asks Feathertail what works best for her back, determined to gather new knowledge for any future injuries.  Canon continues until...

After the fight with the intruding cats ends, Hollypaw is covered in blood and little cuts, but shows her brothers a brand new scar on her belly that should have been a fatal wound, but instead healed up.  Lionpaw tells her that he can tell it doesn’t hurt because he would feel it.  Hollypaw says what?  Lionpaw says what?  Jaypaw, remembering the dream-sharing he did with Lionpaw that one time, decides Starclan is involved and didn’t tell them.  Starclan you beTTER EXPLAIN SO HELP ME I’LL GET GRAN-GRAN INVOLVED!!!!

Gran-gran Yellowfang yeets down from Starclan to kiss and holler at all her descendants, and gives them the Prophecy, explaining that their parents didn’t tell them because they were unsure who it involved, and she refuses to keep it a secret anymore, citing that the last time she kept a secret Brokenstar happened, giving a short explanation.  The Three agree to not be mad at their family, because that makes sense.

Storm and Brook decide to stay with the Tribe, and after a tearful farewell, the Clan Cats leave.  When Hollypaw gets back to camp, she has another dream about Tigerstar and Brambleclaw, now insisting they can train her to be the best warrior ever.  When she wakes up, she grabs her siblings, parents (Crowfeather and Swiftpool are having a sleepover), aunt and uncles, and her grandparents and great-uncle and the beans get spilled about the Prophecy and the Creepy Cat Dreams.  Everyone panics!  But they unpanic when Sandstorm, who was woken by the ruckus, points out that maybe the panic was the point?  Maybe if we stay calm and ignore them, they’ll either stop or make a move.  Everyone agrees, but this plants the seeds of doubt and anxiety in Hollypaw.  Did they pick her because she’s weak?  Canon continues until...

Windclan and Thunderclan both start finding each other’s prey on their land.  Mudstar and Longstar both agree someone is trying to start a fight, which happens when some younger warriors from both sides start a tussle.  Mudstar says until they figure out who’s doing this the clans should stay apart.  This leads to Swiftpool and Crowfeather being separated for a time.  A little while later, Berrynose, one of the troublemakers, says he saw a lion walking around camp, no it wasn’t Lionpaw I swear!  A little later, Fireheart, Darkmoon, and Lionpaw are gathering herbs, and discussing when Fireheart should retire, when Sol strolls up, say oop sun’s gonna go out, and yoinks out of ther before Darkmoon can grab him.  Canon continues until...

The free for all, triggered by some idiot in Windclan, starts, and the Eclipse happens.  Everyone except for Jaypaw and Longstar panics, and Sol strolls off to Shadowclan, with a ghostly Yellowfang throwing cat-cuss words at his back.  He still convinces Blackstar to forsake Starclan.

Back at Thunderclan, Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Cinderpaw are promoted to Hollywish (for her great-grandmother and grandmother, and her hopes for the future), Jaywhisker (for his alternative senses and long whiskers), and Cinderheart.  The clan cheers them on, with Swiftpool at the front, and Lionpaw at her side, comforting her because his father can’t be there.  Flyshadow cheers from the nursery because she’s pregnant!! Canon continues until...

The Three sneak onto Shadowclan territory, and see poor Littlecloud get grounded by Blackstar.  On their way back, Tawnypelt catches up to them, with her kits Emberpaw (Flamepaw), Goldenpaw (Tigerpaw), and Dawnpaw in tow.  They want no part of a Starless Clan.  Longstar welcomes them to Thunderclan as long as they need shelter.  Canon continues until...

Millie and her daughter Briarkit become ill, and the illness begins to spread.  Lionpaw has a visit from Raggedstar and Runningnose, and grabs his siblings and the Shadowclan apprentices, hoping a plan can be hatched.  Jaywhisker and Flamepaw come up with the tree plan, and are as surprised as everyone else when actual Starclan ghosts show up to holler at the Shadowclan cats.  Blackstar is convinced, and throws Sol out with a Goofy Ya-ha-ha-hooie!  Canon continues until...

Longstar loses a life to the Greencough in camp, and Lionpaw asks Jaywhisker to dreamwalk Kestrelpaw, the Windclan Medicine apprentice, to find out where the catmint is.  After locating it, Lionpaw goes to get it, and is spotted by Breezepaw, who looks a bit happier?  Lionpaw is delighted his half-sib is doing well, and Breeze paw admits that he and Crowfeather hashed things out a bit, then tells Lionpaw to get on and go.  Lionpaw returns to camp with the medicine, and at the next half-moon, is named Lionblossom (for his “blooming spirit” and he gets petals stuck in his fur) by a proud Darkmoon.  When he goes to sleep the next night, he has a dream about tunnels and tribe cats, and a pretty molly named Half-moon.  Canon continues until...

The Fire Scene!!!  Foxflight gets stuck on the other side of a flaming wall with her niece and nephews, and makes a daring leap to grab a branch.  As she maneuvers it across the fire, a shadowy figure approaches.  In a flash, a dirty grey tabby leaps on the branch, blocking her way back!! Oh whatever will she do?!? She tackles him, knocking the tom head over tail into the fire, and saves her family.  Lionblossom has to be carried out, as he’s writhing in agony, feeling the pain of burns from the mysterious stranger.  He recovers shortly after, and no body is found in camp.  However, right before the next Gathering, a Thunderclan patrol finds a burnt corpse by the lakeside.  Flamewish, part of the patrol, thinks he looks familiar, but Graystripe is behind her, too horrified to speak.  He manages to sputter out that he recognizes the scarred pelt when Longstar approaches, and immediately identifies him as Darkstripe?!?!?  Wait what!???!!!  That night, Hollywish is visited by her Least Favorite Ghosts, but behind them is a smoky tom, both in pelt and in stench, and her doubt increases...Canon continues until...

Bluestar yells at Yellowfang for telling her descendants the prophecy.  It was supposed to be a secret, yells Bluestar.  Well so was Brokenstar and look where that got us, Yellowfang hollers back.  The two glare at each other for a while until Runningnose and Redtail break them up.

Back at Thunderclan camp, the cats are discussing how Darkstripe survived his throat being shredded, when the newly promoted Breezepelt and Heathertail enter camp.  They spotted Sol on Windclan land carrying a Thunderclan bird, and watched him plant it on Windclan territory, explaining the prey problem.  Longstar sends a patrol out to look for him, and the bring him and this other hanger-on that refused to leave him.  The Three grab their Gramps Purdy and escort him to the elder’s den, are you comfy Gramps, oh here let me introduce you to Mousefur.  Canon continues until...

Briarkit is attacked by the snake.  Honeyfern leaps in the way, getting struck in the eye, and Lionblossom makes the painful split-second decision to to an eye-ectomy on the spot.  Luckily, Fireheart heard the screaming and was rushing over to help, and finds both Honeyfern and Lionblossom on the ground writhing in pain.  Honeyfern is rushed to the Medicine Den, where she makes a miracle recovery - her eye and the hearing in that ear, and her ability to have kits are gone, and she’ll most likely be wobbly for life.  Honeyfern and Berrynose mourn their lack of future kits, but Poppyfrost insists she’ll carry kits for them, and the three can raise them together.  In the forest nearby, a seething ghostly Mapleshade confronts a shimmering Frecklewish, but both stalk off without a fight.  At some point around here, Coldlight confesses his feelings to Sandstorm, who tells him she needs to think about her feelings.  He respects her wishes because he’s sensible, and needs to emotionally recover from his love confession, because Coldlight’s drained by feelings. Canon continues until...

At next Gathering, Mudstar and Blackstar both want a piece of Sol.  Longstar counters that holding him prisoner keeps him from doing more harm, and Mudstar agrees, ending the cross-clan conflict - Crowfeather promises his kits he’ll visit shortly.  Back at Thunderclan later, Hollywish thinks she’s talking to her father and confesses her fears and anxieties.  The shadowy cat tells her of course she’s evil, and no one actually loves you.  A teary Hollywish rushes off, past her brothers, and into the tunnels, and they collapse behind her.  Crowfeather pins Sol to the ground, and he laughs evily.

Meanwhile, Whitewing’s kits and Flyshadow’s kit sleep peacefully.

Dun Dun Dun!  And that’s all for now!

[yarrowleef]

Read Darkness Within all in one sitting last night and then passed out so here are my scattered thoughts i wrote down as i read, (afterthoughts in parenthesis)

Darkness Within Spoilers, obv

UGH GOD THE SECOND HAND EMBARRESMENT FROM SQUIRREL FAKE FLIRTING WITH ASHFUR IT HURTS

Just remembered Sandynose died and got a small boost of happiness (will Hawkwing and Plumwillow ever be allowed to talk again now? I mean probly not b/c they aren’t protags and non-protags don’t rly have friends but I can hope. Sorry, Hawkwhing and Plumwillow’s short-lived friendship in Hawkwings Journey was one of the last times I felt something)

Ghost fleas lol

Mothwing: i’m rude now. (but more importantly, Fuck Tigerheartstar for forcing his son to be around the cat that hurt him so badly, like he HAS to know how upset everyone is regarding Shadowsight and his accidentally helping the imposter, and he’s making him be the sole one to tend to him??? There is NO REASON Puddleshine couldn’t have done it. You think Puddleshine is going to try and murder someone?? )

Oh no don't make this a traveling book, and a ROOTBRISTLE traveling book this is going to be insufferable

BACON AND EGGS

Lightleap Is Good (Hey didn’t Shadowsight have another sister? lets be real we all knew Pouncekit was going to end up as the forgettable 3rd one)

Bristlefrost’s crush continues to feel unnatural to me. It’s like she’s grasping at straws romanticizing the most generic things.....wow....I love how ur just so...bare minimum competent....being polite to the loner we came all this way to ask for help like any somewhat reasonable person would....How admirable...I love the way you just *clenches fist* exhibit some basic traits of loyalty and skill that literally every warrior has (I s2g I’m this close to head canon-ing Bristle as a clueless aromantic who doesn't understand what romance is actually suppose to feel like so she just looks at feelings of low-bar admiration and assumes “oh I guess this is that “romantic attraction” everyone’s always talking about? guess I must be in love???” because both her crushes have felt out of nowhere and like. Idk fake/forced sounding like she’s just telling me that that she’s In Love Now while I continue to not actually feel it at all from her end. I know it’s just that I hate the way Erin’s write female characters in love but this head-canon makes me laugh)

Got scared because I thought they were going to villainize Spotfur for not wanting kits for a minute, but also excited at the concept of maybe exploring a female character that doesn’t want to be a mother, but it turns out she was just pulling a Sparkpelt and actually DID want the kits all along and was only hesitant because she’s sad. Shrug oh well.  (the only female character in warriors that was distinctly upset about pregnancy and motherhood was Lizardstripe and as we all know she was eeeeeevil and abusive and “overly ambitious” because why else would you not come around to being happy about motherhood?? YES I’M STILL SALTY ABOUT YELLOWFANG’S SECRET, BAD BOOK)  Whatever it’s fine so long as Spot doesn’t lose her rebel leader spirit forever and default to “soft mom” personality for the rest of her life, I gotta have hope because I actually like Bristle and Spot’s current relationship. Also I am actually very grateful they never made Bristle resentful at Spot for getting with her crush, as lots of middle grade/YA media has a very bad habit of demonizing female romantic “competition” and its super gross, so I rly do like that Bristlefrost is so protective and caring towards her instead. )

This series is trying to tell me that Rootspring is actually Big but I refuse to accept that. he has dumb scrawny bitch energy and we all know it

Sunrise: “Thunderclan may be better with a new leader” lol go off (i mean........they right tho...It’s unfortunate that the tension in this whole plot is a bit dampened by the fact that i DO in fact want bramble to die v badly. I don’t even have special hatred for him, I’m just bored of him.)

Yes Lionblaze beat the shit out of Ashfur

*HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKED!!!! (I wrote this in reference to the ghost summoning scene, this was all I could manage at the time, that scene was WILD and I am VIBING WITH THE HORROR OF IT ALL)

* Brashfur: Oh yeah? Could Ashfur fake THIS? *stands up with slightly better posture* Shadowsight: oh damn you got me there...... (asdfhhfhhgh im sorry that was really funny, how did that prove anything?? ONLY A ~REAL~ WARRIOR COULD STAND UP STRAIGHT WE ALL KNOW ASHFUR IS INCAPABLE OF GOOD POSTURE!)

End of the book: *LAUGHING NERVOUSLY* WHAT THE FUCK??? (I thought he was just gonna kill Squirrelflight right there holy shit can you imagine the RIOTS that would ensue in the wake of all this Squirrel/Bramble discourse I was so scared for a second.  

 But it’s fine, she just....went to super hell instead......Warriors has come so far lmao WHAT IS HAPPENING

Final Notes:

*On Mothwing, I don’t think her behavior struck me as “CHARACTER BUTCHERING” as much as it did for other people? I mean.....Warriors fans will say that literally any time a character does ANYTHING less then perfectly nice I think her actions just seemed that much harsher because we are reading from Shadowsight’s POV, and Shadowsight is taking everything 10x more personally right now (understandably so, but Mothwing isn’t inside his head) she wasn’t trying to hurt him. Also... like... Shadowsight DID get his name too early. It’s not Mothwing’s job to put his feelings above everything else, she’s not even his mentor, Puddleshine on the other hand, as his main mentor, I don’t understand what his deal is ignoring Shadowsight, that’s not how you help an apprentice but I suppose I chalk many of his mistakes up to also not being the most experienced medicine cat (he barely even had his own mentor.) Maybe he’s distant because he feels guilty and actually blames himself for not guiding Shadowsight better?? the two of them haven’t communicated about it yet so idk

 any way I give Mothwing a pass to be a little short tempered right now as a cat who has had her abilities periodically questioned all her life no matter how hard she works or how much experience she has, just because she doesn’t vibe with the spiritual cult side of the clans, I can understand why she’s a bit defensive of being questioned and frustrated watching so much hurt happen Yet Again due to reliance on StarClan visions over common sense, and I for one still stan her for slandering StarClan and refusing to accept Mistystar’s bullshit banishing like everyone else. Sometimes a character is at the end of their rope and can’t manage to be 100% nice 24/7 and that’s maybe not inherently bad writing? idk just my hot take. At a certain point we all gotta reckon with the fact that our perception of most popular supporting characters in heavily colored by fanon and we can’t always get mad at the authors for not adhering to it

*The sisters magic shit is my fav worldbuilding warriors has had in AGES, I love the way it’s described and it actually feels like it adds something to this world. I love this horror imagery with the ghosts, very excited for that. 

*still won’t be thrilled if Ashfur is working alone, because his motive doesn’t make sense right now. I mean the trying to get Squilf thing, sure, whatever, but the “I will make everyone pay for what they did to me”???? cause like?? Who??? they didn’t do anything to him?? Ashfur’s grievance was very specifically JUST Squilf. He has no other cause for revenge, he had no other beef or complaints about the clans to my knowledge? The cat that killed him is dead, and she’s like, the only other one that I could see as having “wronged” him?? I guess he also didn’t like Firestar much according to Graystripe’s Vow (and on account of how willing he was to kill him w/ Hawkfrost) but Firestar is ALSO dead. I don’t understand his angle. Will have to see last 2 books to judge i suppose.

*All in all I am interested to see where this is going!! but also the pacing as I feared is becoming a major issue. It’s better then ending the main conflict on book 3 like Vision of Shadows did, but omg. Hardly anything happened in all these pages. I realized I was over half way through and nothing about the situation had actually CHANGED or advanced at all in all that time. Similar to the past 2 books which I believe could have been combined, this plot felt like it should have been the first half of a book. Discussing whether or not to kill the imposter isn’t much of a standalone plot, it’s just the set up to a plot. Finding the sisters didn’t need to be a whole long thing, the debates about the Imposters fate didn’t need to be repeated 10 times, all those chapters illustrating that “Shadowsight is sad” were also drawn out, repetitive, and interchangeable, we probably only needed 2 or so chapters showing his struggles to get the necessary information across. It felt like a lot of padding, it was really slow and I did a lot of skimming. I am still very interested in the overarching plot and mystery behind the ghosts so that kept me reading but man this “will they won’t they kill him” plot did not justify it’s own whole book. Alas this is a persisting issue that will never be resolved while they continue to force 6 books into 1 series that doesn’t need 6 books. I’m sure the writers are doing the best they can with these unfortunate constraints but still, it’s a wonder this slow padding isn’t more of a detriment to their younger readers that the books are supposed to be marketed to.

[squirrelcrow-po3]

some cats i want to know (more) about! i dunno if they've been talked about already i have a bad memory BUT: hollyleaf, cinderheart, willowshine, heathertail, hazeltail, icecloud, ferncloud, foxleap. feel free to take a pick or none or all i dont mind! anyway have a good day :]

tysm!! firstly, the canon three dont really exist in my rewrite. they have counterparts since their parents are squirrelflight and crowfeather! they follow similar story beats as the canon three but have different personalities and slightly different motives. they are cherryflight (hollyleaf) who is upbeat but strict and has gifted kid syndrome, sunchaser (lionblaze) who is bitter and self centered, and feathermist (jayfeather) who is overly empathetic and complaisant.

for the others

cinderheart: im not entirely sure what to do with her in my rewrite tbh. since she really isn't sunchaser’s love interest. i’d love to give her an entirely different character arc independent of him! i would just have to think it through.

willowshine: ough shes a good one. since in my rewrite, hawkfrost and mothwing switch ranks, hawkfrost is her mentor as riverclan’s med cat. so she is heavily traumatized by having a cruel mentor. and later in the fanmade arc, she is riverclan’s only high rank left after most of the clan cats are killed. and when shadowclan annexes them, she trains juniperpaw since shadowclan has no medicine cat. and she is very much disturbed by his ambition and cruelty because it reminds her of hawkfrost. in the rewrite,, she’s more withdrawn.

heathertail: another character i changed a lot! firstly, they are a they/them nonbinary cat! secondly, they are the kit of mudclaw instead, who is exiled from windclan rather than dying. they are sunchaser’s main love interest but they are both not good cats! they are on and off mates throughout po3 and oots. and after they have kits, they break up permanently and mostly use the kits to hurt one another.

hazeltail: i don’t have much for her, but i kinda wanted her to want to know more about her father! it would be interesting if she felt out of place in thunderclan for a bit, especially in her apprenticeship.

icecloud: also haven’t thought much about her either :[

ferncloud: now she’s a side character i have thought of! she is not mates with dustpelt. i changed it so that thornclaw is a rogue kit brought into thunderclan, so they are mates! ferncloud became a mother early into her life because she admired her mother, but also somewhat out of a feeling of obligation. she does love thornclaw! but sometimes she wishes she stayed a warrior longer. she also dies in po3 during the fire scene,, mostly for more emotional impact. but she is actually reborn as ivypool!! since in my rewrite, the three + dovewing and ivypool are reincarnations of cats introduced in the series rather than random tribe cats we don't care about lmao

foxleap: i have a little bit about him! he actually gets a mate! he’s in a poly triad with poppyfrost and berrynose! he does die in oots but he’s lived on by cherrykit and molekit

[charcarts]

hey could you tell us more about that hollystar au of yours

HEY!!! First off I’d like to apologize for how long it took me to get to this- I usually like to do doodles for asks and my priorities have kind of been all over the place re: personal and business affairs. I found some free time in-between comms to whip some stuff up though so Here We Are.

Anyway- Hollystar AU! Big, big difference off the bat is Hollyleaf Doesn’t Die, and she gets made deputy at the end of OoTS saga (as opposed to squilf; I’d like to imagine there were still sm problems between squilf and bramble; even if they ended up having alder/spark in the following saga). Also there’s some Dark Forest BS tossed in there somewhere. Also also Lesbian Hollystar. We Love To See It Happy Pride-

Long Post so click read more 2 check out the rest of my BS

Relationship-wise: Hollyleaf is closer to Bramblestar than any of her other parental figures. The have uh. Shared Awkwardness re: dealing w/ squilf, and it’s probably one of the reasons she’s deputized by him (Nepotism At It’s Finest; all joking aside though I could see them being close re: shared ambitions/having to prove themselves to clanmates amidst troubling rumors of their character). This Is Set To Change Going Into TBC where Holly’s secret re: ashfur is revealed by the imposter :^)))

Crowfeather makes her uncomfortable b/c like... she’s Not Entirely Over The Whole... Half Clan Parents Thing As She Insists. They’re cordial in public events at gatherings though; but she doesn’t like to situate herself around her bio dad or her half-brother because of how much it reminds her of her origins.

Breezepelt... she fuckin hates him and vice versa. Not as much as Breeze’s sheer antagonism to Lionblaze but they both HATE how much they look like Crow, and by extension, to Each Other. No Holds Barred Tear Into Each Other @ Dark Forest Thunderdome Hours

Squilf/Leaf.... Hollyleaf has uhm. Mommy Issues LMAO she does NOT want to be around them at ALL when she comes back frm the tunnels. Hates visiting the medicine den unless it’s only Jayfeather there, and avoids being left alone with either of her moms. Her relationship w/ Leafpool improves on her “deathbed” after being dealt a heavy blow from Hawkfrost. While Holly originally attempts to make amends with her bio mom as a result of assuming she’s dying, I’d like to think during the time she spends recovering in the medicine den she and Leafpool have good time to Talk About Things. Squilf is another story altogether lol I’d imagine the lingering awkwardness continues into AVoS especially w/ the arrival of Alder/Spark. They hash things out somewhere in TBC.

She has a good relationship with her siblings!! After getting thru a LOT of her own Issues And Simmering Jealousy abt not being a prophecy cat, I’d imagine. She’s not as vocal about it, but it’s clear she cares about her brothers.

Close to Ivypool- shared experiences and whatnot! Ivy really looks up to Holly as a mentor figure, in helping her thru the dark forest and having sm1 to empathize with about Magic Siblings. IMO when Hollystar becomes leader I could see her making Ivypool her deputy b/c she’d enable Holly’s dubious decisions.

Hawkfrost manipulates the shit out of hollyleaf lmao. A lot of playing on that Inferior Sibling Complex, and the promise to Make Her Better Than Her Peers. It’s the usual bs Hawk/Tiger spews.

HOLLYCINDER RIGHTS. This could either go 2 ways- depending on how much u guys want me 2 pull a YA Series Love Triangle like the previous books. In this AU holly and cinder were close pre-tunnels, in a kind of will they/wont they kind of thing. This is where things diverge. Option A being post-tunnels cinder is ofc HURT holly would do that and they have 2 rebuild their relationship again frm the ground up. Option B being cinder goes thru the 5 stages of grief for holly and eventually moves on With Lionblaze, only to find out Hollyleaf Actually Isnt Dead Oops and then struggles with her not-so-faded feelings for Holly versus her new commitment to Lion. Hollyleaf, not knowing Cinderheart has attempted 2 move on from their Undefined Something, is a Little Pissed To Find Out Her Not-Ex Is Now Kind Of Dating Her Brother, and Respectfully Pines From Afar. There’s A Lot Of Accidental Yearning. Cinder realizes she wants to be with Hollyleaf after the latter nearly dies frm Hawkfrost’s attack, she and lionblaze part ways, and cinder and holly bond and get together sometime inbetween Injury Therapee Hours.

[warriorsredux]

Dullard Reads TNP #7

Been a fuckin’ minute, ain’t it? Long post to make up for the silence.

It interests me that Crowpaw refers to Purdy as a “mange bag”. Cats wouldn’t know what a bag is, of course, but I keep wanting to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that it’s a phrase translated from feline to English as that. But what would be the equivalent in feline that would acknowledge an item for holding things? “Mange herb-leaf”?

Another point of interest is the interaction these young cats have with twolegs. I can assume they’ve only ever seen them at a distance growing up, and they’ve clearly been warned their entire lives about how dangerous and strange humans are. However, they aren’t so scared as to run away and leave Feathertail behind when she’s scooped up by one, and she even admits she could have escaped easily from its grasp, but she didn’t want to hurt it. That could be an indicator of Feathertail’s personality more than anything, but it’s still worth contemplating why they didn’t all immediately get away from the house as soon as possible, instead of going right in.

Stormfur is really quickly becoming my favorite character in this arc. He’s totally friendly and chill, and he doesn’t do anything stupid or infuriating - in fact, he offers sensible advice, which is a rarity in this series. Plus, he’s actually got a personality one can define! It’s nice.

I feel compelled to ask why rats are so fucking aggressive in this series. They know a predator when they see one, and in the real world, rats are pretty timid creatures! What purpose is there in attacking seven large cats that could be hungry right now?

They’re not like the Carrionplace rats, either, which are used to cats and would know how to handle them. There have been no other cats in the area. A rat shouldn’t see a big group of them and think “oh yeah, I can take ‘em”.

Hawkfrost be causin’ problems, as per usual. I love that he has to immediately back down from his bullshit because Firestar unintentionally calls him out.

Well, Purdy’s gone, and I’m surprised that he didn’t irritate me as much as he did when I was younger. Maybe I just knew what was coming this time.

Midnight is here! And already I’m confused about her speaking pattern. 

There’s this thing people do when writing characters that are speaking in a language not native to them, where they can’t decide exactly how well the character should speak. Midnight, for example, uses past tense and larger words easily, but then breaks off into present tense in a halting, stilted manner, with short, minimalist terms. It’s a little disorienting and a major pet peeve of mine. 

And with that, the first book is finished! Overall, not the worst. It’s certainly a much better start than the first series had. Can’t wait to see if it stays decent or if it gets fucked up as the arc goes on.

[bonefall]

what do you of "the man who sold the world" for fallenleaf? friend is getting me into nirvana and i cant do anything without thinking of the Beasts

Hmm... honestly? I think it fits other characters much better!

Man Who Sold The World always reads to me as like... a dangerous character, could be a demon, could be an evil parent, could be a more literal villain in some kind of story, who has unambiguously gotten its ass kicked and banished. In its defeat, it realizes that it can turn it around; by trying to convince one of their Victims to join them.

And succeeding.

(and it's why Nirvana's version is my favorite, Cobain's voice is just the right amount of hoarse that makes me feel like the Victim Character has lost a lot of sleep over it. Vulnerable and open to the offer of the Villain, possibly on the brink of desperation in their own life. It has that sort of angsty-young-adult madness that makes choosing bad decisions sooo much easier. Bowie's and Ure's versions are also fantastic, but imo they're a lot more dreamlike, like the victim is being more entranced than convinced!)

The song isn't about breaking out of that cycle. It's about "laughing and shaking his hand," returning home almost unaware of any change. But over many years, in tiny little ways that add up into even bigger ones, slowly the Victim becomes another man who sold the world.

They doesn't even realize when they died alone along their quest, just that it must have been long, long ago.

Some of that fits Fallenleaf, but it's not quite the same vibe. She killed Ashfur in revenge. She sought out Sol and took his deal for power, and tried to kill her own brother. She subjugated an entire Ancient Lake society-- and the only thing she can really blame Sol for is how it got bored of her and kicked her out of her own body.

Those were things she did. And they're things she lives with. Trickery was less a part of it than she might have wanted to believe at some point in her long, guilty life.

NATURALLY I'm inspired by Cheecat's really great animation they made with Brambleclaw and Tigerstar, and I think it fits Tigerstar to a T, but who I always think of is Hawkfrost.

Especially in BB, where RiverClan raised him to lean into his legacy. Not Clanborn, from a young age he had to work twice as hard, prove that he and his sister were "worth" keeping around, told that they were only protected by that diluted Tigerkin blood that trickles through their veins and that Tigerstar was an ideal to live up to...

Only the thinnest veneers of, "Be what he was, without his flaws" to hold him back from fully adopting everything his father ever stood for. A father he never met, who hurt his mother, who killed and traumatized countless clanmates.

And then Hawkfrost sees him. The song kicks in. "I thought you died alone, a long long time ago."

"Not me. I never lost control." It means that those "flaws," they weren't so bad. "You're face to face with the man who sold the world" and I can teach you the value of that.

He leaves that exchange feeling warm. "I laughed and shook his hand." He goes through the destruction of the forest (looking for form), the great journey (and land), and eventually finds himself in all the conflicts of TNP. No one knows at what point he stopped being the noble young warrior who stood up for Reedpaw against his tormenters, or when wanting to protect his sister became abuse and belittling.

But at some point, he died alone, long before his heart stopped beating on that stake.

He ends up in the Dark Forest with his father, preparing for the change that's coming in OotS, but not by the end of the song. At the end of the song his father has successfully dragged him down to his level, singing the same tune, trying to pretend that his dad getting him pointlessly shish-kebabed for a petty personal dispute wasn't a critical L to the chest.

[seadramonster]

Hi! I saw your Thistleclaw posts, and let me just say, it is SO, so relieving to see someone who doesn't glorify him/downplay his actions. I never liked him, even when he was younger. I keep seeing people bring up that he isn't the first battle-hungry cat, say he isn't as bad as other antagonists, say that Bluestar is worse, that he would've mellowed with age, or basically don't count CP because it was written later on. None of this changes anything!

Thank you, anon! Honestly Thistleclaw as a character is starting to grow on me and he’s quickly going up there in my top favorites, but the fandom has sort of soured my view on him. I can absolutely understand them, since we hardly see him being bloodthirsty, but I realized something after making that post that I’ll bring up later on.

(so sorry for the mini essay I just have a lot of thoughts about this series)

As for him being not as bad as the others, that’s something I actually agree with. The reason for that is because:

Darktail, Tigerstar, Scourge, Mapleshade, One-Eye: Serial killers and or dictators. Darktail destroyed entire Clans. Tigerstar attempted to do this, killed multiple cats, including his own Clanmates. Scourge was more or less a dictator who had cats killed if they lived together. Mapleshade killed multiple cats and attempted to kill a pregnant queen. One-Eye was just another Tigerstar.

Brokenstar: Killed his own father for power, murdered children, had child soldiers, attempted to destroy WindClan and drove them out of their home

Darkstripe: Betrayed his clan, attempted murder against former Clan, also tricked a child into eating poison

Sol: Manipulative, but overall was rather harmless in the long run. Cats in other places got killed or hurt not directly by him, but because of consequences of his actions. I don’t believe he ever hurt or killed anyone himself and the deaths he caused were mostly an accident

Sharptooth: A mountain lion who probably shouldn’t be listed here but a cat’s a cat, big or not, so I’m including them. Killed tribe cats to eat them and for fun I think?

Hawkfrost: Tigerstar 2.0, although with less killing. He never directly harmed any cats in his own Clan, but wanted to carry on Tigerstar’s legacy by uniting the four Clans into two with him and Bramblestar ruling them. Convinced Ashfur to lure Firestar into a trap, was a manipulative bastard towards his own sister, and attempted to kill Bramblestar

Ashfur: Tried to murder three innocent cats because he got dumped by a cat who realized she didn’t love him (and it’s also, you know, bad for both people for a person to stay in a relationship where they don’t love the other. I know, I’ve been in that situation. You’re miserably because you’re not happy and prolonging breaking up in hopes maybe your feelings will change only hurts the other person more.). Also lured his leader into a fox trap. Also you know, the whole possession thing, which by now it’s obviously him.

Thistleclaw: An extremist who wanted to destroy the other Clans because, in his eyes, that was the only way to keep ThunderClan safe.

Do you see what he’s up against? Yeah, he isn’t as bad as the other villains, but that’s because most of the other villains are literal serial killers who seem to always be in a competition to one-up each other in evilness. Compared to the other villains, him wanting to destroy the other Clans is almost normal. We never actually saw him kill anyone, we were just told that would happen if he had become leader. While I believe he did or at least attempted to, we don’t know if he ever killed another cat.

I feel like if he had become leader it would have been a Woundwort situation; his Clan was safe, but he was so intent on making/keeping it safe that he did more harm than good by throwing them into unnecessary wars to destroy/drive out their rivals.

A little bit of extra info:

I feel like the reason people say he might have mellowed out is because in one of the guides when Snowfur takes Mosskit to StarClan, a StarClan cat says he might calm down and make a good deputy/leader. We saw a similar rift in the fandom over how Ashfur died when Bramblestar’s fake story of how it was an accident was written to be true in another side book (I think the Ultimate Guide?), when in the main books we know Hollyleaf killed Ashfur on purpose.

StarClan knows a lot, but they aren’t all-knowing. They can’t always tell what a cat’s entire life will be like. But you know who can? Goosefeather.

I mentioned in that post that Goosefeather’s power might not have been planned out then, but it was. I actually forgot the key scene that proved this; the scene where Goosefeather snaps at Tigerkit. In it, he claimed Tiger should have never been born, that he was a monster who would bring destruction to the Clans. He knew what Tigerkit was going to become and had also had a vision of Thistleclaw being covered in blood.

A lot of people also just forget Bluestar didn’t want to give up her kits. Goosefeather is the one who told her to so Thistleclaw wouldn’t be made deputy.

And, yes, Bluestar was a bad leader at the end of her life and she should have stepped down from leadership when her mental health plummeted (I feel like she never actually wanted to be leader and only did so because she felt she had no choice). What she did to Brightheart was horrible. But she never actually wanted to destroy the other Clans like Thistleclaw, she even went so far as to bring back WindClan.

Thank you again, anon! Sorry for the essay

[mallowstep]

(Reedwhisker anon)

If the Erin's do confirm that Reedwhisker was in the same litter as Prim, Pike, and Perch, the only way I can figure out why he went through two years of apprenticeship hell is, well, a Serious Head Injury. Maybe Tigerstar sets up something to make himself look better. Reedpaw is only 1/4 Thunderclan, so maybe a 'show,' to make it look like he's going to have Reedpaw killed, and he talks to Darkstripe about it. Darkstripe accidentally messess up, maybe or maybe Reed hits his head on a rock during the whole thing before Tigerstar can do his whole generosity thing and spare him, and well. Everyone is confused when Reed doesn't get up, and then maybe he has a seizure or something? Idk Canon isn't my mess to fix.

Misty AU, I can actually see Mistyfoot just...physically pulling Reed close to her after Tigerstar is killed, and that's when Shadowclan realizes that oh. Reed is related to her. It's kinda even funnier if he looks like her, but they just didn't place it.

Leopard AU...if Misty is with Thunderclan's battle party when Bloodclan is introduced and Tigerstar dies, and Reed is with Riverclan's cats after Shadowclan flees, I can also see her just...walking over and lifting him up by his scruff and walking back to Thunderclan's party and Firestar is like...wat.

Stormpaw: "That's Reedpaw! He's Mistyfoot's kit." *he tells the fire pelted leader, before butting his head against Reedpaw as Stonefur attempts to get Misty to set Reed down, but it's not going to well.

As for the whole Tigerheart name thing....this boy personally voices his opinion to Twany next time he sees her too. He tells her directly to her face that she is a shitty queen, and a hypocrite.

But for The Kin and Darktail thing...in Canon, if he's from a second litter, I feel horrible for Misty. She's lost her first litter, Stone, Storm, and Feather, and now her son...is prisoner to Darktail. In Misty AU and Leopard AU...I cannot not see her going absolutely feral. Feather trying to keep her calm but Feather's regressed a bit, terror for her brother shining in her eyes, and Storm's pacing back and forth in Thunderclan camp, tail lashing. Stone probably wants to pull a rescue (if he's still alive) but Misty can't put Thunderclan or Riverclan in danger anymore then it is. Hawk, Moth, and Frog all uneasy and unhappy and twitching. They just don't know what to do. Maybe those three with Alder, Violet, and Twig stage a rescue and get everyone out. Or he's stuck as a prisoner to the Kin until Darktail is dead. Either way, big family cuddle pile every night for a moon or two. Maybe longer with Misty and Feather.

(Tried breaking this up with spaces, hope it works.)

yes thank you...greatly appreciated.

ooo that head injury idea is good! i like that a lot. yes. very good. i'm unlikely, like. i don't really care about reedwhisker as a character so shrug, i'll probably never do anything with him and the weird age stuff, but i like this as a solution! yes. very good.

dfjkldas yeah ohmygod. reedwhisker and mistyfoot walking to a gathering together and russetfur is like "oh my god we're all fucking idiots."

heh yeah. she probably would be! her and stormpaw. and she sees reedpaw and is like. "THAT'S MY FUCKING SON" and is very happy to see him. thunderclan comes home with more cats than it left with. but everyone is so happy to see him again. he's so happy to see everyone again. good reunion times.

mistyfoot is Not letting reedpaw out of her sight for like. at least three days. probably longer but at least three days. reedpaw is fine with that. he's very excited to see everyone. stonefur. god. yes. good family reunion times.

and yes -- god. i love. okay one of like. my fav things about tawnypelt (in the misty au) is this disbalance in their experiences. because -- to be clear, tawnypelt is also traumatized by tigerclan. but her experience is so fundamentally different like -- hm. it's not even.

excerpt time yes. some stuff from tnp i'm many whiles away from publishing.

so feathertail like actually doesn't remember very much of tigerclan. not in any specifics. it's all a very hazy mess with some key moments.

Feathertail wants to make her name them all, but Feathertail doesn't think she knows what they are. "What are you apologizing for, Tawnypelt?"

to face the burning heat

but tawnypelt does

"I—" remember how you screamed, Tawnypelt's mind supplies. I remember when I didn't understand. I remember everything, Feathertail. "I'm sure. I'm sorry for that, and every other time."

trying not to face what i've done

and yet. it's a hugely formative thing for feathertail, in a way that like -- tawnypelt doesn't get.

"No, we can't, can we?" Feathertail says. Her posture has changed, her ears folded back, and Tawnypelt shrinks.

trying not to face what i've done

like tawnypelt recognizes what's going on but she doesn't realize how deep she's cut

Brambleclaw is watching them. He has stepped back, Feathertail realizes, there is nothing between Tawnypelt and herself. She could — she could leap. Feathertail is frozen, her hindlegs refuse to move, she can't — she can't do this.

to face the burning heat

and yeah. so what's my point?

well, it'd be the same thing here, wouldn't it? because again, tawnypelt is one of tigerstar's victims. everything else aside, he's not like. he's emotionally abusive to her. he ties her self worth to his approval and he's not afraid to twist that thread to keep her under his thumb.

"Stop fucking whining," he snaps and she flinches.

let me write my own line

so to her like -- yeah. her whole decision kind of makes sense. because tawnypelt is -- not intentionally, but she's a very selfish character.

"What are you apologizing for, Tawnypelt?" Feathertail says this like it is a question, like they are not both staring at the result of everything Tawnypelt has done. Brambleclaw is watching in silence. I'm sorry, brother, she thinks. "Say it," Feathertail spits. "Tell me what you're sorry for."

trying not to face what i've done

like she's --- she's worried about her perception, here. it's complicated because she does apologize, she does let it come out, but she's also very concerned with her own image.

and that happens again when she names her son tigerkit. because she's thinking -- i am reclaiming this. but to everyone else, she's naming her son after a monster, she's openly invoking that comparison, like. i already think tigerheart has a very very complex to negative relationship with his name.

(especially once he becomes leader.)

so with that in mind -- yeah. first of all rip tigerheart for the comparison but second.

reedwhisker is Not having it. 0%. what the Fuck are you Doing tawnypelt.

i think -- honestly, i think mistyfoot would be angry with him for going as far as calling her a bad queen. right like, i don't -- i think that would be a step too far for her. but everyone in riverclan and shadowclan and all of the clans are supportive of reedwhisker.

(i saw a think about tigerkit being golden and goldenkit and -- my heart. feels things. goldenheart. i love it. hm. i literally have it saved in my au ideas folder. "oots except tigerheart is named goldenheart. that's it. that's the only difference.")

and yeah oh man the fucking kin like man. god -- i'm actually working on something about that? about how like -- it triggers mistystar's ptsd? anyway.

but yeah -- for Minimal Angst (and canon coherence) i think reedwhisker would be the only kit in her litter but i imagine like -- mistystar is very protective of him because of course she is, very reasonable. and so for him to be taken from her is just. unthinkably cruel.

and yeahh -- she would be really, really, really angry. this is what...like 8 years later? and still -- oh first of all.

just. the angst of -- because stormheart and stonefur were not there for the worst of it. and even though they saw the aftermath, you know, okay actually.

shadepelt would be probably like. very upset about the bodies. because the whole reason she almost died was that she tried to bury bodies. and stormheart like -- he hasn't really seen shadepelt like this. not really, not in a long time. hnng. good.

but feathertail is -- yeah. she's Retreating to Safety. even after this much time she's still very close with mistystar, and i don't think -- after reedwhisker is held hostage, i don't think she'd want to separate from her.

and everyone is so angry and frustrated and done because -- this isn't fair.

i think hawk, moth, and frog would definitely attempt a rescue. (i mean if i wanted maximum angst one of them would be held hostage as well. just for the record.) and --

oh i've talked about like. the angst of seeing your parent like. hurt. and this hurts them Again.

like it's hard, right? and even if they're adults feathertail is still their mom but she's scared and ohh. good stuff.

but yeah, rescue attempts. oh. maybe in the rescue attempt one of them gets captured. maybe like. hm. idk. maybe frog and alder. idk. but they get themselves captured and -- because alder is kind of like a dad to violet and twig and now there's So Much damn family angst.

but when it's all over -- mistystar is going to have a Lot of cats in her den for a while.

i'm not sure if/when mistyfoot and feathertail stop sleeping together? like maybe at some point but yeah. feathertail is like. "hi mistystar this is Our Den now."

(mistystar is fine with this. she's somewhat less fine with the fact that stonefur, stormheart, and reedwhisker are following suit because her den is like. big enough for maybe three or four cats to sleep comfortably, and hawkfrost, mothwing, and frogheart keep sneaking in, and she needs to be able to get out of her own den she is the leader oh my god, but only a little because really she just loves them a lot.)

[mandareeboo]

Unfinished Work #32: “Nightmares” (Completed Chapter)

Last one for the night! This one is actually finished, but the writing is outdated and I never was confident in posting it when I wrote it. Another Ivypool story, but this one set in a sort of personal hell, where she confronts her inner demons with some help from an unlikely source.

———————————————————————————————————–

Ivypool wasn’t sure what she was running from, exactly, but she didn’t stop. Darkness pressed in from all sides, suffocating and lifeless. The only sound she could hear was the sharp smack of her paws on the thin layer of water that seemed to take up the ground, still save for when she startled it.

She knew this was a dream. Ivypool’s mind had never fully recovered from spending almost every night in the Place of No Stars, and she suspected that was why everything was so dull in sleep. So empty. That didn’t make things any less scary, though she did her best to keep her fur flat.

Ivypool could always be hurt in her dreams, for so, so long. Why would that change now?

The fire in her chest forced her to a halt. Ivypool squeezed her eyes shut and focused on breathing. Long and deep, that’s it. Can’t show any fear.

She wondered what would happen if she slept here, then decided against it. The warrior wasn’t sure exactly where ‘this’ was, and she never wanted to chance it. Ivypool got to her paws and started moving again, this time at a slower pace.

It was impossible to tell what was up for down here, left or right. Could a cat turn around without realizing it? Probably. The silver-and-white tabby she-cat kept her eyes ahead. If she died lost, she at least wanted to have died doing something.

Blossomfall must still be sleeping, Ivypool thought. That’s why she hasn’t woken me up yet. Fine. I can wait.

She forced her mind onto happier paths than the one she was jogging. Once Blossomfall woke her up, they could go on a dawn patrol together. Squirrelflight always assigned an ex-Dark Forest warrior or two for that time of the day; she appreciated how energetic and chipper they were.

After that, she would share some prey with Dovewing and Briarlight. The disabled warrior always had a funny story to tell about Jayfeather and Leafpool, and that would cheer her sister up a little. Purdy might join in; he loved telling that story about Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Breezepelt getting chased by dogs.

Hollyleaf. She frowned. I’m so sorry.

Evening hunting or border patrol from there. Ignore the looks Harespring or Ratscar would give her from across their respective borders, if they were even there. Maybe Cloudtail could give her some tracking tips. Share tongues with Whitewing and Birchfall, avoiding her father’s eye and mother’s questions. Polity dodge Spiderleg if he got too close.

I can do this. I can wake up from this.

The void didn’t so much as twitch.

A brown pelt flashed out of the corner of her eye. Ivypool froze, claws slithering out. The warrior tasted the air; the stench of RiverClan was light, but still there. Hawkfrost. It would be just like her ex-mentor to haunt her after dying twice.

Something peatier nearby, much stronger. WindClan? Ivypool cautiously broke into a trot. She didn’t catch any signs of a second pair of paws following her. Can a ghost of a ghost even make sound?

The brown flash was back, growing as she moved. It gained shape through her beating paws, coming into focus like a bug buzzing closer to your eyes. Ivypool went into a full-on sprint, this time to speed up the process, and soon another cat ran beside her. His one black ear came into color last.

Antpelt.

Guilt slammed her like a warrior in a territory battle. Ivypool slowed and stopped, falling into a sitting position. Antpelt blinked at her from a few mouse-lengths ahead, gaze expectant.

Does he want me to run with him?

“I can’t do this,” she rasped. “Not again.”

Antpelt slowly sat down.

“You’re dead,” she told him. “Hawkfrost killed you, and I destroyed what was left of that. I ruined you.”

“I’m dead, but I’m not forgotten,” Antpelt meowed. “This is the place where the echo of memories go. You’ll never forget me, will you, Ivypool?”

Ivypool stared at her paws, then at him. What was left of him, anyway. “I wish I could.”

“But you can’t,” Antpelt replied reasonably. “And this is who you remember me as- the cat who tried to give you room to stand after falling over in training. Why is that? Why focus on this part of me? You could’ve made me cruel and bitter, but you didn’t.”

“I don’t know,” she meowed hopelessly. I wish I did. “Maybe it’s just to make myself feel worse?”

“Nobody remembers the good,” Antpelt tsked. “Nobody remembers the good Tigerstar did, do they? He pulled ShadowClan out of sickness and made it into the Clan it is today. Without him, ShadowClan might not exist anymore. That’s why StarClan named him leader. But nobody cares, because the evil outweighs the good. So why do you see the good, Ivypool? Justification? Do you think suger-coating what you’ve done will make the cat you became in the Place of No Stars any better?”

Ivypool didn’t respond. Just remember patrol. The taste of fresh-kill. The blood is gone. I washed it out of my fur moons ago. Don’t look down. It’s gone. It’s gone.

Antpelt was by her side, setting a thin paw on her shoulder. His meow was surprisingly gentle. “There’s always a place for you here, you know. With the memories. Wouldn’t that be better than fighting at every turn?”

His touch was cold, sucking the heat out of her pelt. Ivypool had the sudden, sinking realization that she couldn’t fight him, couldn’t find it in her being to see agony screw up his muzzle a third time. How many times do I have to kill this cat before he finds peace?

“We could be Clanmates again,” he pressed. “Don’t you want to go hunting together, like Brokenstar promised we would?”

“I…” Ivypool had forgotten how to speak. She couldn’t even remember how to hunt. The name of her Clan. Was this really a dream, or was she dead? Was it both?

“I thought ThunderClan cats were more stubborn than this.”

It all suddenly snapped back into place, the cool voice ringing in her ears. Antpelt hissed and drew away. Ivypool’s head jerked up.

A golden she-cat sat on a small island, her tail wrapped neatly around her paws. The spotting on her pelt was a pattern she’d never seen in ThunderClan before. The she-cat had a proud, almost blank look to her muzzle.

“Why did you stop fighting?” she asked. “Surely you aren’t planning on just giving up?”

“I’m sorry,” Ivypool meowed in a daze, trying frantically to collect herself. “Do I know you?”

The golden she-cat’s ears pinned back, eyes narrowing almost to slits, lips drawing back to reveal a sharp set of front teeth. “Show some respect. I didn’t come to this dingy place for sass from a cat barely old enough to stumble out of the nursery.”

“Oh. Sorry, Leopardstar. I didn’t recognize you.”

To be fair, it’s not like Ivypool ever got to see her this way. The Leopardstar she’d known was fierce and ambitious, but her body had been declining. She still remembered the way her bones had jutted out of her fur. The only reason Ivypool had been able to place the two as the same warrior was the way her anger flickered in her eyes, the sharp and brutal way she spoke. This was the she-cat Crookedstar had left to lead RiverClan, all right.

Leopardstar accepted this with a nod. “The gift of StarClan is powerful. That creature with you- why are you listening to it?”

Ivypool glanced at Antpelt. The WindClan cat glared at Leopardstar suspiciously. “I owe him that much.”

“You owe him nothing,” she rumbled. “This is not a cat- something to pay respects to. This is simply a bad memory. It can hurt you, but it can’t drag you down unless you stop fighting. Join me on solid ground.”

Ivypool hesitated, then slowly padded forward. Leopardstar stood and moved back to make room for her assent, but when she tried to crawl on Ivypool’s paw went right through.

“I can’t.”

“You don’t believe me, then,” Leopardstar countered. “Fine. I’ll bring you up myself.”

The leader jumped from her perch with a powerful spring, landing beside Ivypool without a splash. The golden she-cat moved to stand between her and Antpelt.

“Is this how you want to be remembered?” Leopardstar demanded. “As the warrior who gave up?”

“What’s the point of fighting if you’ll never win?”

“The point of fighting?” Leopardstar asked. “To feel the fur rip beneath your claws. To bleed. The screech of warriors. The point of fighting isn’t to win- it’s to feel real. This,” she flicked her tail at Antpelt. “Isn’t real. None of this is real.”

Ivypool hesitated “If none of this is real, how do I know you’re any different?”

Leopardstar opened her mouth, seeming to consider her words.

“Leopardstar.”

Neither she-cat jumped, though it took all of Ivypool’s concentration not to. Out of the shadows pitter-pattered a lankly blue tom with torn ears.

“You look like Mistystar,” she said.

“I suppose so,” Leopardstar agreed.

“Thank you.” The tom dipped his head. “I’m Stonefur.”

Suddenly, the leader’s voice turned sharp. “You are a memory of Stonefur. I speak to Stonefur often enough in StarClan to know the difference.”

Stonefur didn’t answer. Antpelt watched them.

Leopardstar turned her back on the gray-blue tom, facing Ivypool with a mildly ruffled air. “Are you really going to abandon your Clan for something like this? This place isn’t worth losing all of that.”

Ivypool turned her mind back to ThunderClan. Her Clan. What would Dovewing say if she knew about all of this? Whitewing? Birchfall?

Antpelt finally stepped forward. “Are you really going to believe the word of the leader who helped Tigerstar?”

“You’ve made a horrible, disgusting mistake,” Leopardstar meowed quietly. “I know how that feels.”

“She killed me,” Stonefur- but not really- growled.

“But this isn’t where it has to end. You can move forward from this.”

“She ruined her Clan.”

“There are cats who love you.”

“You’re better off dead.”

“I need to believe I’m really good.” Leopardstar looked oddly vulnerable to Ivypool. She could count every star in her pelt. “I need you to trust me, or nothing will matter. I’ll have done all of this for nothing.”

The memory of Antpelt, fading and lifeless, stuck her, and continued to strike her even as she stepped forward. Antpelt hadn’t been for nothing. The Great Battle hadn’t been for nothing. “I want to try.”

“Then let’s climb,” Leopardstar grunted, turning to the invisible land, which had stretched into a long cliff. “I’ll start.”

Every ledge was agony. Ivypool felt like her fur was on fire from where it touched the surface. Nevertheless, neither she-cat made a sound.

Ivypool glanced back. Stonefur and Antpelt were staring up at them. Leopardstar crossed the ledge and reached down to pick her up by her scruff.

“You remind me a bit of myself,” she muttered around the fur. “Perhaps a bit too much.”

“And that’s why you came after me?”

“No cat deserves to drown, no matter what Clan they are. Now wake up.”

“I can’t,” she admitted. “Ever since the Dark Forest…”

“I’ll help,” Leopardstar returned, and claws raked down Ivypool’s muzzle.

Ivypool woke up with a tender cut along her face. It was still too early for dawn patrol, and Blossomfall was warm against her side. She slipped out of the warriors den and stared up at the stars until dawn.

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Snowkit Becomes Snowstar AU

So after a small break and focusing on an event, I'll slowly get back to these. I may close asks every now and then because

wow

i have a lot of em fsdkj

but

I will get through

now

onto my favorite lad

Snowkit

Or should I say Snowstar?

Snowkit is rescued in time by Fireheart

Speckletail is relieved and cries over the fact that her son is alive and well

There's still a debate about Snowkit becoming an apprentice, but when Cinderpaw stands up, she demands to be allowed to help mentor Snowkit Before any complaints about the medicine cat apprentice can be made, Speckletail also steps forward to help, followed by Brackenfur

Eventually Bluestar gives up and Brackenfur becomes Snowpaw's mentor - with aid from Cinderpaw and Speckletail

Everything goes about normal and before the battle with BloodClan, Snowpaw becomes Snowlight - a name personally picked by Speckletail for overcoming his struggles He's also revealed to be close friends with Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw [who are his niece and nephew canonly] as well as Cinderpelt [who is also his niece]

TNP comes and Snowlight is trusted by Brambleclaw to be told where he's going and the white tom is also the mentor of Squirrelpaw, whom he struggles with at times, but he does his best to remain kind towards his spirited apprentice

When Graystripe is taken, Snowlight quickly steps up to help his Clan, not hesitating for a moment to be there for ThunderClan, as he knows his Clanmates need someone

During the journey there is another hawk scare, but he is saved by his apprentice, Squirrelpaw, and Brambleclaw He personally talks to Firestar about her becoming a warrior, stating how proud she is of her - even if she did run off to join the prophecy cats for a bit

As the Clans settle, there's whispers of a new deputy being needed and all eyes are on Snowlight Brambleclaw is a little jealous of this and Tigerstar tries to convince his son that Snowlight is in the way - Brambleclaw rejects this as Snowlight is still his friend

Hawkfrost, however, hears what his father's saying and tries to lay a trap for the white tom

Brambleclaw manages to come across Hawkfrost and Snowlight before the trap is set and he attacks his half-brother Hawkfrost is outraged, screeching that he could make Brambleclaw the next leader of ThunderClan Brambleclaw states that he doesn't want that Not if it means killing someone close to him

Brambleclaw ends up killing Hawkfrost in front of a confused and shocked Snowlight Thankfully the deaf tom understands after what happened is explained to him and he swears the secret will die with him Brambleclaw makes an off-handed remark not to bring up death at the moment

Snowlight is made the deputy of ThunderClan - no dream omen needed

TPoT and Snowlight has been doing well as deputy. He is a noble and kind cat - and after Cinderpelt's death, the deaf tom makes it clear right away he wants no cat to go through what she had to

He becomes Jaypaw's mentor, not allowing him to be put in the medicine cat den just because he's blind There's some concerns on communication, but the two manage to find a way with a Morse-code-like language that consists of steady and hard thumps to the ground with the front paw There is some help from Leafpool to translate at first, but eventually the two are an unstoppable apprentice-mentor force

When Cinderpaw is hurt, Snowlight joins in helping Leafpool, providing aid when he can and personally making sure she has the time to heal Jaypaw is confused on why his mentor and Leafpool are so concerned, but is thankful that his mentor doesn't want to give up on him Hollypaw still becomes a warrior apprentice with her brothers, too, after trying to train under Leafpool

When Sol comes to the Clans, Snowlight is confused by the suave tom, and is intrigued by him

He ends up meeting with the tortoiseshell in secret, teaching him kitty sign language Eventually Sol tricks him, using his charm to blind the snowy tom to his plans When Snowlight realizes this, he is visibly hurt and ashamed of himself to the point of talking to Firestar, wondering if he's really the right choice for deputy Firestar assures him he is and comforts the deaf tom

When Ashfur dies there is hesitance from Snowlight, as he wants to believe it's Sol because he's angry at the charming loner, but he struggles to accept that someone like the tom could actually be a killer He is proven right when they learn it wasn't Sol He is strangely relieved

Sol is gone again and Snowlight finds himself missing the loner, but pushes these feelings away in order to focus on his Clan The Three become Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jayfrost Brambleclaw is a little unsure of the suffix -frost, but Snowlight assures his friend that there's no ill will towards the blind warrior The two later talk about cats who were gone and Snowlight reveals he had been thinking of Frostfur when he and Firestar were considering names for the three

Eventually it is revealed that Jay, Lion, and Holly are the kits of Crowfeather and Leafpool Snowlight is confused why his apprentice didn't trust him, but when she explains that it wasn't her secret to tell, he is understanding, though admittedly frustrated with Leafpool for putting her sister in that position When Brambleclaw even yells at Squirrelflight, Snowlight is quick to defend her

OotS comes around and Snowlight is working hard with Firestar to keep the Clan in order. Briarpaw is revealed to be being trained by Leafpool, who is being punished [not by becoming a warrior, but by aiding in apprentice tasks every now and then and being temporarily banned from gatherings as well as having to have an escort with her wherever she goes]

Snowlight's not much of a focus here, other than being moral support to Squirrelflight and Jayfrost as well as just generally being a strong-willed and progressive deputy

Briarpaw becomes Briarberry and she's extremely proud of herself and even more so that she managed to earn her name along-side Bumblestripe and Blossomfall, as she a bright and fast learner

Jayfrost and Cinderheart are implied to be close, though Cinderheart seems to be the only one with any romantic feelings between the two Jayfrost becomes Dovepaw/wing's mentor and Ivypaw/pool is given to Cinderheart

Lionblaze and Foxleap, meanwhile, are mates and very proud of the fact they are together

When Sol reappears, Snowlight confronts the tom He admits he had romantic feelings towards Sol and how he wanted things to go better Sol, bitter, asks why Snowlight could be a warrior and not himself Snowlight somberly replies that someone gave up on the tortoiseshell and that he had deserved better and how he would have done anything to help Sol become a warrior Sol is taken aback and cannot look the deaf tom in the eye "maybe in another life things would be better"

Jayfrost does come to Snowlight about his growing feelings for Cinderheart, but he's unsure what to say or do and it stresses him out more and more as he doesn't want to ruin his friendship with her Snowlight helps Jayfrost and eventually he and Cinderheart are mates

Everything goes somewhat has per canon [with what changes there are, of course] and Firestar dies, making Snowlight the new leader - now Snowstar Snowstar makes his deputy Cinderheart

my brain is too empty for AVoS and TBC, but

some notes

Jayfrost and Cinderheart later have two kits - twins Rainpelt and Flurrynose

Lionblaze and Foxleap become the adopted dads of Lilykit/paw/heart and Seedkit/paw/spot [whom Lionblaze stops from drowning]

Briarberry becomes a strong medicine cat and carries the same beliefs as Snowstar - that any cat can be a warrior, no matter what, and defends Alderpaw when his dad, Brambleclaw, tries to suggest he becomes a medicine cat

Snowstar is the first to welcome SkyClan and personally helps work out a proper plan so that the Clans can have proper territory without having to chase SkyClan away

There are also times where Snowstar goes off on his own Only Jayfrost knows that it's to try to find Sol