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theanoninyourinbox · 11 months ago

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NEW LONGSTAR AU - THE NOT-SO-LONG BALLAD OF FIRE AND FLAME

Before Fire Prophecy

Talltail seeks to kill the Loner that he believes killed his father. With the help of a kittypet named Jake, he finds the strength to forgive, and instead saves Sparrow from the Monster, and returns to Windclan with new determination in his heart and a dear…friend…that he leaves behind. It is with this new spirit that he protests the renaming of Hopkit, and he stays Hoppaw. The two remain close friends throughout their lives.

In Riverclan, Stormkit is renamed Crookedkit, but Rainflower is also renamed – Rottenflower. Crookedkit’s name is given as a sign of survival, and Rottenflower’s as a sign of her true heart. Crookedkit still leaves for a time, still is haunted by the Geist Mapleshade, but with his head a little higher and heart a little clearer.

Tiny is playing on an old stump when the Thunderclan Patrol finds him, and Thistleclaw orders Tigerpaw to attack. Bluefur intercedes, and the heavily injured kitten is brought back to camp to be treated. Sunstar decides to keep the poor little thing, and Frostkit is semi-adopted by Bluefur.

Yellowfang is about to bury Hopekit and Wishkit when the sounds and smells of Twolegs alert her. She knows they will try to take her and her remaining kit, so she grabs Brokenkit and runs. The twoleg, stretching their legs after a long car ride, finds the two kittens and sees signs of life in the little tortie. They rush the cold kitten to a vet, and with time and effort, little Nutmeg thrives.

As Frostkit heals, a moons-long process, he makes friends with Spottedpaw and Whitepaw. Eventually he notices that Thistleclaw keeps trying to get Spottedpaw alone, and with the help of Thrushpelt, discovers the horrible truth. Thistleclaw is dragged before the clan, and with Spottedpaw’s testimony, the Traitor is banished from the clans permanently. Spottedpaw becomes a Healer apprentice, and Thrushpelt begins to mentor Frostpaw.

Nutmeg eventually is introduced to a handsome orange tabby named Jake, and falls in love. He breaks her heart by leaving when she’s due to give birth, and swears to take care of her beloved bundles of joy by herself.

Raggedstar lies dying, with his daughter Brokentail laughing as she cleans the blood from her paws, and realizes the enormous mistake he made with the way he raised her. He dies, and watches as Brokentail receives her lives from the Dark Forest. Watches her kill kits. Watches her banish her own mother. What has he done?

Longpaw is mentored by Frostfoot, making an unusual pair. Longpaw is eventually named Longtail, and wonders what his future holds for him. He does not see the starry crown behind his head, ethereal and light as a dream.

Bluestar and Spottedleaf sit together on a hillside, Leader and Oracle Healer, and a pair of stars fall burning from the sky. Fire Will Save The Clans.

The Long Ballad of Fire and Flames

Rusty the kittypet has yet another strange dream, of a red-tailed bird falling from a rainy sky. He and his friend Smudge discuss the happenings around the neighborhood. Princess, Rusty’s sister, forbids Rusty from going to the forest by himself. Later that night, Rusty tries to catch a mouse on the border and gets tackled by a gray tabby, who is impressed when Rusty flings him off. After meeting his mentor Lionheart, Rusty agrees to meet them the next morning, to see the Clan. Rusty tells Princess about this.

The next morning, Rusty sneaks past a still sleeping Princess and a worried Smudge, and meets Bluestar, Graypaw, and Lionheart. The Thunderclanners refuse to wait for his sister. They head off to camp, with Rusty leaving a subtle scent trail so Princess can find him. Princess wakes up, and follows the trail with stealth and careful steps.

At camp, Bluestar introduces Rusty as a potential clanmate, and some cats take offense to that. Darkstripe demands he be tested, but Frostfoot tells him to calm down, what, are you threatened by him? Really? Lionheart gets inbetween them to break it up, but cocky Longtail challenges the kittypet before anyone can stop him. Frostfoot is mortified. Rusty accepts, and the two square off. Longtail gets the upper paw almost immediately, and gets a hold of Rusty’s collar. As he pulls, he hears a yowl of outrage. And suddenly he is FLUNG bodily, his ear burning, the collar still in his mouth.

He gets up, and there is an ENORMOUS molly standing over the fallen kittypet, the warriors and camp guards at the ready to fight. As Spottedleaf helps him to his feet, Longtail hears the Tortie scolding Rusty for leaving without her, I TOLD you there would be trouble but noooOOOooo you don’t listen to your sister! You just listen to your silly dreams!! Bluestar interrupts, impressed with the boldness of the kittypet and interested with the dreams comment. Princess introduces herself, and after Rusty says he agreed to the fight, apologizes to a still stunned Longtail. Rusty explains he has dreams that come true sometimes, and tells Bluestar and Spottedleaf about the red-tailed hawk dream. Spottedleaf asks to mentor Rusty in the arts of healing and Starseeing, and Bluestar agrees, asking is Princess would like to join as well. Frostfoot mildly scolds Longtail for leaping without looking, and Princess and Rusty become Flamepaw and Firepaw, with Bluestar herself mentoring Flamepaw.

And then Ravenpaw rushes into camp. Redtail is dead, he screams, and collapses. And pandemonium rises.

After Tigerclaw brings Redtail’s lifeless body back to camp, and the apprentices and kits are shielded from the sight by Whitestorm and Lionheart, the pair of siblings settle in. Firepaw makes fast friends with Ravenpaw and Graypaw, and Flamepaw befriends Dustpaw and Sandpaw. The pair drag Longtail into being their friend as well, which brings Frostfoot and eventually Swiftpaw into the equation as well.

Longtail begins to mentor Swiftpaw, and finds that he loves teaching. With the help of Frostfoot and the other Mentor cats, he begins to become more humble and less cocky. Longtail begins to appreciate his friendship with Firepaw and Flamepaw, and takes more time to live, not just be a Hunter and Mentor.

One day, while gathering herbs for the Healer’s Den, Firepaw is knocked off his feet by an old gray and yellow molly. He springs to his feet, ready to fight, but the attacker is just…staring at him. Like she’s seen a Geist. He cautiously asks if she’s alright, do you need help ma’am? And she moans something unintelligible, falling to the ground in a dead faint. Firepaw panics, and drags her back to camp. There, she is identified as Yellowfang by Spottedleaf, who tells Firepaw of her alleged crimes, and how she believes that Yellowfang was framed. Said Healer wakes up, takes one look at Flamepaw coming in to drop off a mouse, and promptly wails in grief and pain. The three of the get her to calm down, and she quietly apologizes, the siblings look like…patients she lost long ago. Bluestar listens to her tale of Brokenstar being a False Star, and while still weighing the information, relegates Yellowfang to being a War-Bound for the time being.

Bluestar does not hear the story Yellowfang tells to the Healers and the Apprentice Brawler. She does not see the siblings take the old molly to meet their mother. She does not know a family has been made as whole as it will ever be.

At the Gathering, Brokenstar tells everyone how she ran out Windclan, and Bluestar realizes that Yellowfang was probably telling the truth. As she had just revealed Thunderclan had Yellowfang as a War Bound, she begins to prepare for an attack, and she is correct – Shadowclan tries to kill Yellowfang, and succeeds at killing Lionheart and her dear friend Rosetail. Her heart grows a crack. She names the brave Tigerclaw, names Yellowfang part of Thunderclan, and tries to go on.

Then Ravenpaw leaves, begging shelter at The Barn with Bluestar’s old friend Barley, for reasons the apprentice refuses to communicate. All his friends Graypaw, Firepaw, and Flamepaw will say is that he needed to be something that the Clans couldn’t let him be. And the crack grows.

And then Shadowclan steals Frostfur’s kits, Lionheart’s kits. They kill Spottedleaf, Firepaw wailing over her body. She goes with her Warriors, Brawlers, and their apprentices to rescue the innocent. They are met by Senior Warriors and other banished cats from Shadowclan, aided by Yellowfang in secret. Brokenstar is run out of the clans. Yellowfang takes over Firepaw’s training, and Flamepaw and Graypaw are named Flamewish (per her request) and Graystripe. Why is the crack still growing?

Flamewish, Graystripe, Longtail, and Swiftpaw are sent to retrieve Windclan. It goes well, until a Riverclan patrol tries to fight them, and Whiteclaw falls off a cliff while fighting Graystripe.

When the group returns, Flamewish and Graystripe receive their first apprentices – Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw. Flamewish finds Mentoring difficult, and asks Longtail for advice. The pair become close friends. Firepaw and Sandstorm make bets as to when they’ll become mates. Unfortunately, Cinderpaw is lured away from camp and gets hit by a Monster. (It’s a car, just – just call it a car!! -Firepaw) Firepaw saves her life, and Yellowfang bestows the name Fireheart upon him at the next half-moon.

Also unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), at seeing her apprentice so badly injured, Flamewish has an unusual reaction. She goes into labor. Seeing as Flamewish had no idea she was even a little pregnant (as she put it), things get a little crazy. Longtail is flabbergasted, Bluestar is confused, Yellowfang is baffled, and Fireheart is delighted but also flabbergasted. Flamewish does some calculating, then privately asks Fireheart to go bite Smudge in the face for her.

(This means Flamewish misses Graystripe meeting the gorgeously muscled Riverclan molly)

But it DOES mean she spends time in the Nursery with Brindleface, her kits Fernkit and Ashkit and Frostfoot and his kits Flykit and Coldkit. Frostfoot who had just gone out one day and brought back the pair, claiming them as his. Bluestar was frustrated and elated at the same time.

The three become even closer when Brokenstar attacks, as they defend the Nursery together. Longtail and Swiftpaw help drive off the Rogues together, and after Yellowfang blinds Brokenstar and leaves her Brokentail the War Bound, Swiftpaw is rewarded with his Adult Name – Swiftspirit. (Later, Longtail will see this as an omen, unknowingly given by Starclan through Bluestar…) Graystripe is later caught giving prey to Riverclan, and punished by having his apprentice taken away – Longtail is suddenly a Mentor again! And Brackenpaw has so many things to learn!

Cinderpaw makes a nearly full recovery, but her time in the Healer’s Den had made her rethink her life – she wants to heal others. Flamewish cracks a joke about her brother poaching her apprentice, but wishes her well.

And then Brokentail’s War Bound status becomes known. And Thunderclan is attacked. And Tigerclaw is at her throat, keen claws at her throat. But as her heart shatters, a yowl of outrage rings through the air, and Longtail and Flamewish HAUL the Traitor off of her. Bluestar banishes Him, and she holds the pieces of her heart and weeps – there are no stars in her tonight. She waits too long, then names the astonished Longtail as Deputy.

Then Graystripe begs for the Healers to help him – they find the laboring Silverstream and do what they can, but Featherkit and Stormkit outlive their mother. Graystripe leaves for Riverclan, refusing to abandon his kits. Fireheart and Flamewish can’t blame him, but it still hurts. And Brokentail is dead. Yellowfang tells her leader that he dies of natural causes, but Bluestar does not see the look on Fireheart’s face. (She will eventually learn that he just watched his grandmother kill his uncle) Then the fire. Oh the fire. Patchpelt and Halftail, coughing and then forever breathless. Fireheart and Flamewish race to find Yellowfang – to find their family. She lies in a hollow tree, and blesses the Stars that she has enough time to say goodbye. To say how proud she is of them – both her life paths. I’ll always watch over you. (and Yellowfang keeps this promise)

Bluestar feels her mind failing, rain through the treetops instead of thoughts. So when she sees the Traitor leading Shadowclan as a False Star, she just…lets go. She watches Leopardstar rise and her clan move around her like a fever dream. She watches the hawk impassively as it goes for Snowkit, and barely reacts when it takes Speckletail instead. She doesn’t react when Longtail promotes Snowpaw to train under Brackenfur, or when Flamewish brings the elderly deaf kittypet Brahm to teach Snowpaw and Mistlepaw and others Pawspeak. She doesn’t react to the death of Swiftspirit or the maiming of Brightpaw, save to curse the Stars that left her broken by naming the poor thing Lostface.

(Longtail MOURNS. He refuses to eat, has to be pried from his nest, and it takes a teary Flamewish admitting she misses the tom she loves for him to snap out of it. The pair find solace in each other. Fireheart and Sandstorm are too busy and too worried to exchange the mouse that they bet. Neither ever says who won that bet)

Rabbits lead a bloody trail to poor Brindleface, and Longtail makes a plan to lead the dogs away from their den and over the river-cliffs. Bluestar nods absently, but there’s a shining spark in her eyes that hasn’t been there in ages. The runners lead the killer hounds up to the cliffs and away, but one grabs Longtail, pinning him and scratching his face. But a blur of blue streaks onto the dog’s back, and overbalances them both into the river. A pair of Riverclan warriors leap into action, and Bluestar says goodbye to her family, Frostfoot and Whitestorm having raced to the scene.

Longtail is escorted to the Moonstone by Fireheart, and finds himself in Starclan. He receives his lives from Nightstar, Runningwind, Speckletail, Lionheart, Redtail, Silverstream, Yellowfang, Bluestar, and finally Swiftspirit. Longstar vows to stop Tigerstar and his cronies. He names Whitestorm as Deputy, and begins planning.

Tigerstar goes after Windclan, pinning and seemingly killing Gorsepaw, but as soon as the Shadowclan Battle Patrol leaves, he brings his head up and smiles weakly at his frantic mother. He will be scarred for life, but he will have his chance to live.

At Riverclan, Stonefur defends the apprentices to his last breath, and Graystripe rescues his kits from Tigerstar and Leopardstar. Some Riverclan cats escape in the chaos, unwilling to follow their leader on this path.

Finally, with Windclan and Thunderclan united against the forces of Riverclan and Shadowclan, Tigerstar plays his deadliest card yet, as hordes of strange city Rogues appear. Led by a figure some Thunderclanners recognize. Thistleclaw. But the rogues, no, the Bloodclanners, call him Tyrant. Tigerstar boasts to the assembled clans how he killed Bluestar using the dogs and

Tyrant kills Tigerstar with a slash to the underbelly

Nine lives gone, in a single blow

The battle comes the next day, all four clans together – Longstar and Tallstar, Leopardstar and Blackstar.

Bone holds down Whitestorm, and is ripped of by a squad of apprentices, including his own, Brightheart.

Darkstripe goes after the Healers, and Graystripe strikes him down. His body is never found, and a gray tabby wanders desolate, his mistakes weighing on his soul.

Longstar strikes the final blow against Tyrant

And life goes on

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bonefall · 2 years ago

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You may have answered this before, but how are you handling characters that don't believe in starclan, like mothwing and cloudtail? Personally I thought it was interesting when reading the books, considering cloudtail, but only to a point because it's very hard to write atheist characters in a setting where there's undeniable proof of the gods/spirits/etc. Like, how did they explain the literal forces of heaven and hell battling on earth??

As An Atheist Myself ™ I have a lot of feelings about the two of them. I think the short answer is just that in a setting where gods are literally undeniable facts of life, "Atheism" looks more like Dystheism, the belief that they exist, but are not worthy of worship.

That seemed to be the conclusion at the end of Mothwing's... i forgor the name of her novella 💀Mothflight's Blaspheme Boogie. It's actually why it's one of my favorite novellas, I really like the way it closes out with Mudfur trying to sales pitch StarClan's goodness to her, she doesn't buy a fucking penny of it, and ultimately concludes that the comfort it provides to her Clanmates is valuable to them but doesn't have to be for her.

So that's how I want to handle them. They have an outsider perspective to the fact that this is a theocracy, based on gods that can be vindictive and vengeful. Scourge/Iceheart is also joining these two, he actually is going to have a minor but important role in Squirrelflight's Horror as a ghost basically giving insight to what happens when you don't worship StarClan when you die.

With him and Mothwing I really know what I'm doing. Mothwing is insight to Leafpool, especially in TNP where she is now a POV, and observing how the though of StarClan influences the behavior of the cats around her. Scourge is killed in the Great Battle and serves as a ghost to witness their trial. Cloudtail...

Cloud's still evolving. He's going to be a supporting character with Ferncloud in her SE and exploring the feelings he has towards Ashfur, now his apprentice, becoming a villain. How he did his job perfectly, raised him with a deep respect towards the warrior code, and that lead to the person he is today. How he couldn't have done things "better" because this DID raise him the way his society expected him to.

But his dystheism is kind of secondary to that. I think the story I've got for him is fine so far, but it needs more of an 'ending' that I can't decide on until they finally kill him in the main books.

#Bone babble #honestly chief I hate that Cloudtail is still alive #I wish that ThunderClan lost an elder in that last outbreak #I profoundly dislike how the elder's den contains 4 cats the Erins found too marketable to kill #3 of them from the same litter #In my heart Brackenfur died in Po3 and Brambleclaw followed him as deputy #And Thornclaw is a villain #It's FRUSTRATING that they can't let go of these TPB cats and their dynamics as a group are boring #They're nothing like the elder's den in TPB because THAT elder's den actually had dynamics #One-eye was old and wise but hard to get information out of because of her age #Smallear was a frequent problem and extremely nasty #Half and Patch were more friendly and welcoming especially to Cloudpaw #That's good!#But THIS elder's den is generic nice old people now. If they even get screentime at all #Wasted opportunity to turn Thornclaw into the new Smallear #especially since we had a whole thing with Nightheart being a brat #You could have swapped the Bracken cameo with any other elder and it would have been the same #Cloudtail should have been dead by now #Dead actually doing something #In fact fuck like... ONE change to the warrior series without changing anything else?#Cloudtail should have gone into the DF to confront ashfur not fucking Graystripe #Squilf's cousin and ashfur's adopted brother #graystripe stop DOING this to me I LIKE you im one of the only people in my circle who DOES #You're ANNOYING with how much screentime you soaked up you dripping wet writer's pet #Cloudtail hasn't done anything in like 20 years #He's still completely coasting off being a TPB cat #Can't believe this turned into Yelling at Cloudtail hour

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