#happy birthday firestar

[heathfall]

Once again, shoutout to @badgerstep because I wrote this entirely in his DMs and then put it on AO3.

This was written for the 20th anniversary of Into the Wild! It was posted on AO3 on Saturday, but I didn't get around to posting it here until today (Sunday my time).

I'm so happy to have been around and experienced the 20th anniversary. Warriors means and has meant the world to me for years.

(Entire fic under the read more line!)

Summary:

The sun filtered through the trees, dappling the leaves with light. The two apprentices made their way through the forest, separated only by a few feet of oak and pine. "Kittypet, I have a question for you," Sandpaw said. *** Two apprentices go hunting. Sandpaw has a burning question for the newest apprentice of ThunderClan. Set mid-Into the Wild. Written for the twenty year anniversary of Warriors.

Relationships:

Firestar & Sandstorm (Warriors)

Characters:

Firestar (Warriors)

Sandstorm (Warriors)

Tags: The Prophecies Begin: Book 1: Into the Wild, The Forest Territories (Warriors), One Shot, Drabble, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, StarClan (Warriors), ThunderClan (Warriors)

The sun filtered through the trees, dappling the leaves with light. The two apprentices made their way through the forest, separated only by a few feet of oak and pine.

"Kittypet, I have a question for you," Sandpaw said. Her voice was muffled by the mouse she carried. Firepaw twitched an ear, half paying attention to her and half paying attention to the scent of a vole. It was somewhere around, and he was determined to catch it and prove to Lionheart and Tigerclaw that he could catch just as much prey as Sandpaw, the older apprentice, could.

"Why did you choose to join the Clans?" she asked. Firepaw was surprised to hear no derision in her voice, but instead a gentle curiosity. "You had a soft life with a warm bed and more food than you could ever hope to eat. Why would you give that up for a life you knew nothing about?"

Firepaw sat back on his haunches and thought for a moment, keeping the vole's scent in his nose. "I always knew there was something more out there for me," he said at last. "I would dream each night of stalking in the forest and catching a mouse and then wake up each morning and have to eat pellets. They would feel stale and wrong in my mouth. Being a kittypet is a gentle life, but not the one I wanted to live."

Sandpaw joined him and sat down, her tail tucked over her paws. Her pelt was like pale embers in the gentle sunlight. "You weren't born under Silverpelt. Your ancestors don't walk with StarClan. You didn't grow up knowing of the warrior code." There was still no scorn in her voice, only confusion. "You didn't even know if the Clans would accept you. If you weren't intercepted by Graypaw, you'd have had your fur torn off."

Firepaw twitched his ear again, the one Longtail had nicked a few moons ago. The wound had healed nicely, but he would always hold the battle scar. "Longtail would beg to differ," he joked. "Anyway, ThunderClan did accept me. I chose to come with Bluestar, and I chose to stay. I have a name like yours and am an apprentice like you. I live my life exactly the way you do. Isn't that enough to make me as much of a warrior as you are? I know what else I could be, and I chose to be here."

Sandpaw was silent for a long while. Firepaw rose to his feet, scenting the vole again.

"I suppose I had never thought about it like that, Firepaw," she said at last, her voice so quiet he almost thought he imagined her saying his name for perhaps the first time.

A rustle in the leaves distracted him. He pounced and came up again a moment later with the vole he had been hunting. Sandpaw picked up her mouse and the two carried along their way.

The day was warm, the prey was running, and their mentors would soon be wondering what was keeping them.

[bluestonewings]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIRESTAR!!!

[duvewing]

happy 20th warrior cats 🥳

[thunderc1an]

November 7th- Firestar + Hollykit

Happy Birthday @arqueervist !!!

[grumpytoby]

The Prophecies Begin - Into the Wild (21 January 2003)

[pippastrelle]

If he's in fact British, he's been drinking for 6 years! (2 years legally 😉)

one more year and firestar warrior cats can legally drink alcohol in the us

[griffincloud]

[vuelode-irbis]

Happy (late) birthday to the war cats

These books kept me inspired to draw for a long time, so a little thanks.

ID: a digital drawing that features Ravenpaw, Firepaw and Graypaw from Warrior Cats. The three of them are running in the grass, smiling at each other. The background is all dark purple.

[violetshine-appreciation]

OH MY GOD i completely forgot it was firestars bday today. im so fuckigng sorry

[cloverpurr]

happy birthday to the world's favorite orange boy

warrior cats turns 21 years old today which means that firestar can legally drink now. good for him!

[heathfall]

I meant to get some fanfic ready for Warrior Cat Day (and I might still), but I'm an emotional mood and I want to talk about what Warriors means to me.

I started reading Warriors at nine years old. I started reading it in April of that year, and if my memory holds it was because my parents were tired of hearing about Guardians of Ga'hoole and needed something to entertain me.

April is not insignificant here: in March of that year I had fallen from a long distance, breaking my ankle. This ankle fracture healed improperly, giving me a limp that persists today.

Cinderpelt, notably, became basically the eyes with which I saw the series. I wish to this day that she had become a warrior (not through Cinderheart or whatever they were doing in that plot point-- Cinderpelt).

I read Into the Wild and it sparked a love of Warriors and nature and animal fiction that persists to this day. I still have my original copy of Into the Wild (signed, no less). I'm an ecologist pursuing my master's degree now, but I still love those funny little Warrior Cats.

I am still here. We are all still here.

Happy 20 years, Warriors. Hope to be here for 20 more.

[birdsong-warriors]

My nephew requested a Firestar for his birthday today, and this is what I could do with the limited markers and paper I had. He seems happy with it, at least!

[everybody-loves-purdy]

Happy 21st Birthday Mr Firestar

[thunderc1an]

Welcome to November 1st!

To celebrate @arqueervist's birthday, I shall draw Firestar for 7 days straight!

[theartofmadeline]

happy 20th birthday to firestar my good friend firestar <3

[riverc1an]

well happy 20th birthday to the book series that has controlled my life for over a decade now