#cinderpelt beloved

[bonefall]

also do u happen to have any bonefall spottedleaf trivia u havent shared yet ,,,

She has a small breeding population of medicinal leeches and three special ones with interesting patterns she considers her pets.

Their names are Tongue (biggest, black), Wetleaf (has a thick red stripe), and Wigglekit (smallest, brighter olive green).

They're something she prizes, because of how helpful they are in dealing with arthritis and how difficult they are to find in ThunderClan. But also, they're adorable wet worms who have such silly ways of moving around, she loves them.

When she died, Yellowfang took good care of them. They, sadly, died in the fire that killed her too.

ThunderClan didn't get more leeches until Cinderpelt became friends with Littlecloud, who was happy to share his own. Treating with leeches is a very ShadowClan thing to do, but Cinderpelt was trained by a ShadowClan medic and insists it's the best way to relieve joint pain.

Littlecloud agrees with this, and I trust him over anyone else tbh. That boy LOVES medicine.

[foervraengd]

Me on the bus listening to the latest ep of “warrior cats: what is that?” And immm

[cryptidclaw]

Cinderheart's plot would have been more interesting if she was not a reincarnation of Cinderpelt but instead just felt the weight and expectations that come from looking like and being named after such a strong and beloved cat.

I like the idea of her both looking up to Cinderpelt and the stories she has heard about her, while also growing to hate the feeling that she is expected to be just like / live a better life for her aunt.

[wc-confessions]

Longtail is my favorite character. I love his character arc, how he acts as a narrative foil to Firestar, and how he starts out as a jerkass but grows to have a backbone, shows himself to be a loyal warrior with a heart of gold where it counts, rejects Tigerstar when lines in the sand have been crossed despite how much he once looked up to him, and eventually grows to be very loyal to Firestar. I wish people talked more about the scene where he saves Fire when Tiger tries to drown him even though they’re not at all on friendly terms yet. Also his mentor-apprentice relationship with Swiftpaw tears me apart but I live for all the fan content that shows their bond and how much regret he has to live with after Swiftpaw’s death.

To this day I have so many gripes with what happened to my boy post-TPB.

If there is a non-death equivalent of TV Tropes’ “Too Cool To Live,” Longtail is basically that. He had to be written out because if he weren’t forcibly removed from the action, then he would be the obvious choice to become deputy during Greystripe’s absence in TNP (and arguably should have been chosen over Greystripe in the first place; I do like Grey but he was not particularly loyal nor responsible in his youth). Longtail was still relatively young, healthy and fit, loyal, experienced, passionate. You cannot convince me that he wasn’t dealt a career-ending injury solely because the plot demanded Brambeclaw become deputy by the end of TNP.

I don’t think Longstar would have ever been realistic to expect because he’s not a central enough character and not related to Fire/Tiger, and because he would have been fairly old for a clan cat by the time of Firestar’s death, but maybe he could have held out as deputy till the end of TNP or even early PO3 and been given a cooler and more memorable death than what he got. But more on that later.

We all know how badly this series shafts its disabled characters. Maybe this is trivial to some, but I really hate the retcon about his blindness. When his vision started failing of natural causes, it was still frustrating for the reasons above but it at least seemed like he made a voluntary choice to retire early. He maintained a degree of agency, and he made his own decision under the circumstances rather than having it taken from him by the narrative. Having him get blinded by a rabbit of all things just feels like a cheap shot to move the plot along. If he were going to have a freak accident, at least make it less stupid than an experienced warrior getting his eyes scratched out by a prey animal.

Not that any of them are handled *well* by any means, but we have roughly this same character arc with so many other characters who are given more depth in coming to terms with a permanent disability or disfigurement and having it alter the course of their lives (Cinderpelt, Brightheart, later on Briarlight…) that we didn’t need this one to happen to prove any kind of point or to say something too much different than any of those other instances.

The silver lining of Longtail’s injury is that it allows us to see more of his friendship with Mousefur than we would have gotten if either of them had died younger, and/or if they had faded to being background characters in the ever-growing ThunderClan roster. I really adore their dynamic. I headcanon them as aroace besties (iirc though this is basically canon for at least Mousefur). I find it so lovely and refreshing that a m/f pair of characters, and ones who are mostly very likable at that, can have a platonic relationship with so much care for each other without it eventually going down the marriage-and-children path that most m/f relationships eventually do in this series.

However.

Longtail’s death, and Mousefur’s role in it, are possibly even more frustrating and narratively awful than even the accident that caused his blindness.

Having him go out in such a cheap and easily preventable way felt like such a fucking slap in the face to these beloved characters who have been around from the very beginning of the series. Longtail had his whole life redefined and turned upside down by one random, frustrating freak accident involving prey and he ultimately lost his life to another one. Mousefur’s character was mishandled so grossly here, and a cat who is usually pretty sensible and grounded lost her best friend because she couldn’t let one (1) mouse go in a moment of what I have to assume is senility.

I am at least glad the two got a proper send-off in the Great Battle, with them getting to reunite on-screen and his spirit guiding her to Starclan after she fell in battle. It doesn’t quite make up for everything else given that Longtail had so much unused potential while alive, but it all would have been so, so much more upsetting if they weren’t given at least that much to close their chapters.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk about Longtail. He is so dear to my heart and deserved so much better than most of what he got.

.

[booksofstars]

bonus bases, specifically for leg injury variants! more hypothetical keychain series concepts below the cut.

this is a sequel to this post

OUTSIDE OF THE CLANS:

princess

barley

smudge

skywatcher

bumble

sasha

jake

spiresight

BELOVED SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:

longtail

sandstorm

turtle tail

cinderpelt

nightcloud

purdy

mothwing

cinderpelt

PLACE OF NO STARS:

mapleshade

thistleclaw

antpelt

brokenstar

darkstripe

silverhawk

frecklewish

redwillow

SUPER EDITIONS:

crookedstar

tallstar

moth flight

hawkwing

leopardstar

onestar

leafstar

oakheart

NOVELLAS:

goosefeather

mistystar

spottedleaf

cloudstar

blackstar

pinestar

daisy

redtail

[thunderclangens]

Cinderpelt is the current medic. She's well loved throughout the forest, and her time spent with her beloved mentor Yellowfang has perhaps equipped her the best out of any cat to get Scourge out of his nest.

[deathepicx]

Doodle in between other projects. Cinderpelt my beloved <3.

[patrolclaw]

has anyone ever suggested that the reason cinderpelt was "reincarnated" was bc starclan knew she'd be supportive of leafpool?

yeah, she disagreed with her, but there's no way she wouldn't want to help her out. cinderpelt knows better than most that the clans are unfair. she's witnessed so much cruelty firsthand. she would absolutely fight the stars themselves for her beloved apprentice. that's just who she is.

starclan would never allow that. i think they did what they did to keep her from ruining theit plans. hell, maybe they even set up her death specifically so they could trap her spirit. i wouldn't put it past them, considering the level of fuckery they get up to.

idk. i just thought abt how weird it was, and realized it could've been way more sinister than it seems. (no. i don't think the authors did it on purpose. that's giving them way too much credit lol) just a thought.

[riverc1an]

Do you have any thoughts on Whitetail x Cinderpelt? It’s my beloved very niche ship lol

no thoughts on it!! this is actually the first time i have ever heard abt it, but i do see the appeal of the pairing!! :D

[burning-thistles-bt]

tell me more about frostfurs dreams 👀 /nf

Cultist Frostfur still has dreams about a life spent with Spottedleaf but they always end in nightmares.

cw: unreality horror, descriptive gore

The warmth of a pelt pressed against her side, and Frostpaw purred reactively, cracking an eye open and smiling as Frostpaw crouched down beside her. She laid a mouse down in front of them.

"A mouse," meowed Spottedpaw, amber eyes shining just as bright as her always-shy smile. "For you. Freshest from the pile."

"Aw, Spottedpaw," purred Frostpaw in response. "Thank you. Brightkit, come see what auntie Spottedleaf got you!"

Frostfur craned her head over her shoulder, looking for her white and orange spotted she-kit, the prettiest kit of her litter. She smiled, warmth bubbling in her chest as she saw the kitten bumble out of the shadows.

"Auntie Spottedleaf!" cried the little kit. "A mouse! For me!"

Brightkit came to a halt in front of the bloodied carcass, immediately diving her tiny head down to bite at the flesh, ripping at it with little fangs.

Frostfur shrieked, leaping to her feet as she watched her tiny baby devour the corpse---the corpse of---"Brackenkit!" she screeched. She lashed a paw out, tearing Brightkit away from the brown-furred body. Blood dripped down from Brightkit's white chin, staining her beautiful fur a horrible dark crimson.

Frostfur screamed again, jerking away from her beloved daughter as a gaping hole stared back where her left eye was. It was completely devoid of anything, a black hole of endless shadows, devouring the pretty side of her face.

Brightkit smiled up at her, teeth fanged and sharp, unnaturally so, and painted red with thick blood.

"What's wrong mama?"

Frostfur's gaze snapped up at Spottedleaf, smiling at her.

"What's wrong, Frostfur?

"Aren't you happy?"

Frostfur's head snapped up, heart pounding in her chest. Her eyes were wide, staring into the completely darkness around her before her eyes slowly adjusted, taking in the shapes of the trees around her.

Rapid breaths left her lungs as the imagine of Brackenfur's dead body and Lostface's empty socket seared into her vision. She could see them in every shadow she saw---every twitch of her own whiskers she mistook for Cinderpelt limping through the woods or Thornclaw's towering form lurking nearby.

Her claws dug into the cold dirt and she shook her head, growling fiercely as the fur along her spine fluffed, a moonhigh chill making her achingly cold.

She abruptly stood to her feet, tail lashing as she paced forward, staring at her own paws and nothing else.

The forest was quiet.

[spottyissleepwalking]

Ooo can I see your design for yellowfang or her son brokenstar? I have been thinking about them a lot lately

Ol’ Yellerfang my beloved <3

Design notes:

Massive, but only horizontally. Incredibly thickset, a tank, a brick wall, but also Very short.

Four scars across her face, two scars across the left side of her chest, two scars across her left foreleg, one split scar across her right hind leg. Left ear is entirely shredded sans the very top part + the ear tufts, and the right ear sports two large nicks.

Thick-furred, somewhat fluffy, but definitely ragged; she has a lot of fur, and not a lot of free time to try and manage it. (Cinderpelt and Fireheart sometimes tie up the excess fur on the top of her head and below her jaw so they don’t get in the way of her eyes and mouth 😌)

Dark smoke tortoiseshell colorpoint!!! :D

Lower jaw protrudes pretty significantly, exposing long lower canines.

LGBT+ headcanon: Cis lesbian (she/they)! I like to think that Ragged was an extreme case of comphet, with additional spice because, in the beginning, he made her feel desired and Yellow liked that.

[Image ID: A digital drawing of Yellowfang, sitting upright with her body mostly facing the camera, her head tilted somewhat left and her eyes at the camera; the entire image is outlined in white. She is a stocky, thick-set, muscular, ragged-furred, fluffy, very dark gray cat with a paler mane, and darker point markings at her face, legs, ears and tail; she is heavily scarred, most prominently across her face, chest, and legs; she has striking, pale orange marbled tabby tortoiseshell markings at her face, ears, tail, and right hind paw. There are little dark green leaves and distinctive, bright yellow petals scattered throughout her messy fur, and the thick fur beneath her chin is tied up like a beard; her tail is very large and fluffy, and tipped with tortoiseshell marks. At her paws is her extensive color palette, and above her tail is the word “YELLOWFANG” written in white, all-caps. Across her left side is the stylized artist signature of “spottyissleepwalking” written in faded lavender. / End ID.]

[featherdawn]

Oh, i'm delighted to borrow you my ask game, i hope you get to show off your ideas genetics!

In fact, i'll to ask you something right now, let's say... Frostfur? Oh, and if you don't mind, Bluestar and Oakheart (and their families, if you want to), too!

thanks for the ask! I'm going to only cover Frostfur because her family tree is MASSIVE, but I may come back to Bluestar and Oakheart :)

also putting it all under a cut.

*rubs hands* oh boy,

Frostfur's a tricky one because she's a classic case of a solid white cat being born to non-white parents. I've done the closest I can manage, which is giving each parent a little white spotting and making her a colourpoint.

But speaking of these parents, I have a fun little trick I like to use: if one or both parents of a cat are unknown, I'm allowed to make one of them a purebred. This helped me out a lot for Robinwing (Frostfur's mother), who is described as a brown cat with a ginger patch on her chest. In theory, this is a tortoiseshell, but in practice the amount of white shed need for a big patch like that would ruin her recognizability as a robin. So, I have her down as a Somali mix! She does still need to be a tortie & white though, so she's a ticked tortoiseshell tabby & white with a lot of ruffousing (is that the right term? I always forget it).

Frostfur's father, Fuzzypelt, is easier but not without some tweaks for his decendents. For one, I have him down as a Cornish Rex mix, because I thought it was only fitting a cat with the fuzzy- prefix have a rex coat. Originally a black solid, he's now a black smoke with white, both for Frostfur's sake.

Going back to Frostfur (and skipping her siblings because Frostfur on her own is already a nuke on this poor family tree), she's now a silver tricolour tabby point. Most of these traits are handy tools that will help us later.

Her mate, Lionheart, is a "golden tabby," but I have him down as fawn. It would've made more sense as cream, but I needed to pick between tortie Cinderpelt and tortie Brightheart, and the latter already needed to be a tortie anyways. Lionheart is now a longhair fawn and white (I honestly cannot picture him as a tabby. If I had to, he would be a ticked tabby.) He's also a Scottish Fold mix due to my Smallear headcanons!

Frostfur's first kit is Brackenfur, who is a cinnamon mackerel tabby and white. Mostly self explanatory, as he's "golden brown," but he gets white from his mother, who has 2 white spotting genes. His mate, Sorreltail, is a longhair blue tortoiseshell smoke.

Their first kit, Cinderheart (who takes after her grandma and is also a nuke on the family tree) is a longhair blue tortoiseshell tabby & white. She's a tortie for the sake of her sons and has white for the sake of her blue eyes (I don't super understand the dominant blue eye gene yet, so I just gave every blue eyed cat some white). Her mate, Lionblaze, is a longhair red classic tabby, pretty self-explanatory.

Their first kit is Fernsong, a longhair cream mackerel tabby. His mate is Ivypool, a silver tabby point & white, and their kits are Bristlefrost, a longhair blue silver mackerel tabby tortoiseshell and white (what a mouthful!), Flipclaw, a cinnamon classic tabby, and Thriftear, a tortoiseshell. I could've made Fernsong fawn to make his daughters more canon-accurate, but tortie Bristlefrost my beloved.

Going back up to Cinderheart, her daughter Flywhisker is a longhair blue mackerel tortoiseshell tabby. (All of the CinderLion kits must be longhaired, due to both their parents being such. Small price to pay for Cinder's mane) Hollytuft is a longhair tortoiseshell, Snaptooth is a longhair red classic tabby & white (just to make him a little distinct from his father), Sorrelstripe is a longhair black mackerel tortoiseshell tabby & white, and Spotfur is a longhair blue mackerel tortoiseshell tabby & white. I would've loved to make Spotty here a spotted tabby, but that would take so many tweaks that just aren't worth it. Her spots are now her tortie markings.

Going back up to Brackenfur, his daughter Honeyfern is a cinnamon ticked tortoiseshell tabby & white. Lilyheart is a blue mackerel tabby and white (a she-cat who didn't need to be hit with the tortie beam?!), Molepaw is a silver classic tabby & white (to explain him being gray and black), Poppyfrost is a cinnamon tricolour, and Seedpaw is a cinnamon and white.

Going back to Poppyfrost, her mate, Berrynose, is a longhair fawn & white. (I've actually made Daisy fawn, because cream Berrynose was the only one that required her to be red anyways.) Their kits are Cherryfall, a cinnamon tortoiseshell and white, and Molewhisker, seal mink and white. He's mink to explain how he's brown and cream.

Going all the way back up to Frostfur, we can now do Brightheart, who is a cinnamon tricolour. She needed to be a tortie anyways, and I've always loved her design in the Girl Like Her MAP, so I likely would've made her one anyways. Her mate is Cloudtail, a longhair white solid (who I also headcanon as a siberian mix, because he has a kittypet father anyways and I love love love siberians). He's masking a red or cream silver classic tabby & white.

Ambermoon, their only kit to not have kits, is a red classic tabby & white. Dewnose, her brother, is a longhair blue & white. Unfortunately, his mate is Sorrelstripe, who we've already covered (fun fact: for a while the wiki stated that he was her mate, but was never stated to be her kits father. I wish that were still true). Their kits are Bayshine, a longhair red classic tabby bicolour, and Myrtlebloom, a longhair fawn solid.

Unfortunately again, Bayshine's mate is Thriftear. So far, their only known kit is Moonpaw, who in canon is a longhair tortoiseshell and the author's misunderstanding of a chimera. I've taken the liberties to make her a longhair cream classic tabby & white/tortoiseshell & white chimera.

Going back to Brightheart, her next kit is Snowbush, a longhair white solid like his father. He's masking a red tabby & white (I don't list traits that are masked unless needed, so his tabby type could be anything). His mate is Lilyheart.

Their kits are Honeyfur, a dilute tricolour (and one of the only cats I allowed myself to make a cryptic tortie, hence why I don't specify what kind of dilute), Larksong, a black solid, and Leafshade, a tortoiseshell.

Larksong's mate is Sparkpelt, a longhair cinnamon tortoiseshell mackerel tabby. Their kits are Finchlight, a tortoiseshell, Flickerkit, also a tortoiseshell (and XXY intersex now), and Nightheart, a longhair black solid.

Back up once again to Brightheart, her final kit is Whitewing, a white solid. She's masking silver (didn't list if tabby or not) tortoiseshell & white. Her mate is Birchfall, a fawn spotted tabby. Their kits are Dovewing, a longhair blue smoke and white (I love smoke Dovewing nobody can take it from me. White for the sake of my heterochromia headcanons), and Ivypool, who I'm realizing I already covered. See why I called Frostfur a nuke?

Dovewing's mate is Tigerstar the second, who is a cinnamon mackerel tabby & white. I like to make him and Bramblestar not black to make them distinct from Tigerstar the first. He has white for fun :)

Their kits are Birchpaw, a fawn solid, Lightleap, a black mackerel tabby, Pouncestep, a blue mackerel tabby, Rowankit, a cinnamon mackerel tabby & white (white because it felt weird that nobody was getting any), and Shadowsight. I have very specific headcanons for Shadowsight; he's a chimera between a longhair smoke with ghost mackerel tabby markings and a red-eyed albino. When I eventually draw him, I plan on giving him a white "mask" over his eyes.

Finally, we can move onto Frostfur's third kit, who mercifully has no children of her own. Cinderpelt is a longhair smoke and white. Moonkitti's design for her has permanently altered my perception of her, and while I do have her as black (she needs to be dark.), I can't not give her her lighter mane.

Finally, the final FrostFour kit is Thornclaw, a cream mackerel tabby & white. His mate is Blossomfall, a longhair tortoiseshell and white. Their kits are Eaglewing, a red ticked tabby, Plumstone, a tortoiseshell, Shellfur, a longhair tortoiseshell & white (who I also have marked down as XXY, but you could also make him trans if you'd like), and Stemleaf, a red mackerel tabby bicolour.

Stemleaf requires us to bring back Spotfur (sigh.) for their kits; Bristlepaw, a longhair red mackerel tabby bicolour, Graypaw, a longhair blue bicolour, and Stempaw, a red mackerel tabby & white.

And finally, we're done. Whew.

[bonefall]

An alive Spotty would have been very helpful for Fire during Bluestar's madness but, wouldn't it?

Even Bonefall Spottedleaf wouldn't have been able to stop Bluestar's Cruelty Arc. Once Tigerclaw tries to kill her, between the fire that comes after, and Snowkit's gruesome death, nothing could stop Bluestar's spiral...

Though I'm sure Fire would feel a lot better having at least 1/3 of his found familial figures around to help him through it. Yellowfang, Bluestar, and Spottedleaf are a mother, a beloved teacher, and an older sister to him-- Spottedleaf would have been able to help Fireheart manage his grief after losing Yellow to that fire.

Though, let's be fair! Cinderpelt is also an EXCELLENT advice giver and Fireheart notes how she's wise beyond her years several times! They were able to manage on their own... Plus, Bonefall Spottedleaf specifically sets out to teach Fireheart that passing over doesn't have to be scary, and that death is nothing to be afraid of.

[bearfrosts]

brightheart and cinderpelt my beloveds

[midnight-cats]

Cinderpelt beloved. Love you girlypop.

Designer's notes:

Lower leg is numb and immobile from the her injury; vines are to hold it up and out of the way for better mobility.

Tail was broken and healed with a bend; base of tail and a bit after were undamaged, but most is immobile/numb like her leg due to the break, results in an unsteady walk/some balance issues.

Healer by choice in my rewrite, took an interest in herbs while healing and willingly chose to switch from training as a warrior.

[duskliight]

Cinderpelt my beloved <3