#like crowfeather and nightcloud for example

[neofelis----nebulosa]

me: warrior cats isnt really a main interest for me anymore

me at 11:00 pm:

[bonefall]

Sorry to barge in but the Crowfeather talk has actually inspired me to keep writing my long-winded Nightcloud defense doc lmao-I started it a few months ago and got maybe halfway done before I got burned out (curse you adhd)

It goes over every time she's mentioned and has a section clearing up misconceptions because you would not believe just HOW weird people can get about Nightcloud

For example: Did you know that there are genuinely people who think she took advantage of Crowfeather and groomed him? Well I didn't until I saw it with my own two eyes. People try and say she's like Mudclaw levels of older than him when she literally just appears out of nowhere in Starlight. Insane behavior

Do not cite the deep magic to me; I was there when it was written

[wc-confessions]

not me accidentally unfollowing when i went to send a confession LMAO

anyways onto the actual confession- i find it just a little weird when people try to assume someone's background based off their opinions on fictional cats. like, yes, you can assume that if someone calls Ferncould a "baby machine" they're PROBABLY misogynistic (or like. a child mimicking the people around them. that's also a possibility. sorry i couldn't think of a better example) but if someone says "Squirrelflight isn't abusive" even if you disagree maybe, just maybe, you SHOULDN'T assume they don't know how abuse works? same thing if they say Bramblestar isn't, btw.

tbf i mostly see it about whether or not certain characters are abusive (previously mentioned Bramblestar & Squirrelflight, but also Curlfeather, Nightcloud, Crowfeather, etc.) but i have seen it surrounding things like sexism or racism or other forms of bigotry. let's keep fictional discussions fictional, is the main point here. rarely does someone's opinion on a book reflect their real life experiences

then again, i'm expecting the WARRIORS FANDOM to understand any form of nuance, so maybe i'm the idiot here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

Warrior cats has an issue of creating the most shitty het romances known to mankind. Examples:

- BlueOak: I HATE that it’s implied they’re mates in StarClan. They’re so much more interesting if they were just a one-time fling, not lovers. Also Bluestar reads, to me at least, as very aro

- FinTwig: Finleap should fall off a cliff. I don’t care that he ‘apologized’ to Twigbranch, him pressuring her to have kits with him and insisting that he’d leave her if she didn’t was… very upsetting

- BlazeLight: I love both of these characters individually, but NOT as a couple. They work great if they’re like… platonic / found family. Also lightleap lesbian real

- LeopardFrog: If the erins HAD give her a love interest… sunfish was right there! And Frogleap is… gross. Immediately after Leopard rejects him Mosspelt has his kits, implying that he got her pregnant when she was still MossPAW. He was well more than twice her age by that point.

- CinderLion: two boring characters paired together with tons of boring drama that I did not care to read about

- BristleRoot: very one-sided on rootspring’s end. bristle really didn’t seem interested in him at all romantically, and it seemed she just wanted a very close friend… rootspring being so pushy and insistent also kinda. rubbed me the wrong way

- VioletTree: no chemistry, none at all.

- LeafCrow: narratively interesting if it’s seen as a form of escapism from Leafpool’s end

- FeatherCrow: umm… weird age gap and also. crowfeather doesn’t deserve shit. if feathertail saw how he went on to treat leafpool, nightcloud, and breezepelt, she would’ve mauled him.

- NeedleRain: rain’s the same age as SHARPCLAW. Yet he got with needle when she was an apprentice, and he goes on to isolate her from friends / family. That’s textbook grooming, and it’s a shame that it wasn’t called out in the text for what it was.

- RiverFinch: riverstar is GAY. he is gay, you cannot convince me otherwise… give him a husband. gray wing’s right there…

I often think that for a series with so much romance centric plots, they really can’t write romance for shit 95% of the time lol, and they still insist on hammering in completely unnecessary ones anyway (LeopardFrog is the one that immediately springs to mind)

[quiverpaw]

Hot take; Crowfeather is a bad character but not only because he’s portrayed as selfish and uncaring for others but because the writers don’t actually do a lot with him outside of the three female characters he is shown to be romantically interested in.

Feathertail has an interesting story before her life is cut short and is a character a lot of people wonder about had she lived longer.

Leafpool - I don’t need to say anything because it’s all already been said, she’s an extremely interesting character.

And nightcloud even though she shows up out of nowhere, during her relationship with this creature is the one with the most interesting character arc. I’ve always personally read her as just trying to keep her broken family together as well as she could given Crowfeather seemingly could care less and Breezepelt had hit a rebellious streak due to the aforementioned character, definitely as a side effect of her grief from the death of breezepelts littermates. She only really becomes more “controversial” after it’s revealed Crowfeather was unfaithful to the clan, something she’s theorized of before, and has had kits result from the affair, which id like to think (though doubting the writers could comprehend to write this is valid) resulted in her trying to grasp and force her family back together in fear of losing more than what she’d already lost - therefore aggressively rejecting any evidence of Crowfeather having other kits maybe in fear that it might reinforce the idea her kits weren’t as good as leafcrows litter? (This is basically headcanon and interpretation)

Crowfeather…lacks a lot of the interesting shit the other characters bring to the table because 1. His character has mainly been surrounded upon his love interests and their resulting children 2. These relationships are often poor mainly on his part but the writers seem to still want the reader to believe he’s not that bad 3. There is no real comeuppance for his bad decisions - mainly because when they attempt to do so the characters who are directly affected are Breezepelt and Nightcloud, not him, he’s is affected by association which is, I think, a cop out since most of the issues in his life are his fault and those issues have mostly been propagated by him hurting others - I struggle to see how adding onto the pain he’s already inflicted is the best way to fully tackle his “redemption” since he himself never has to struggle on the same level of the other characters around him. The few consequences he does suffer are often from his own dumb actions and the story often tends to emphasize how sad it is that he’s suffering when he started all of this to begin with - like the scene where Nightcloud aggressively drags him away from Leafpool. While yeah, Nightcloud is being violent and her actions aren’t right, it’s strange how the story tries to completely vilify her - when the same story admits that Crowfeather has used her AND breezepelt as a cover for his own dumb decisions, it’s never fully explored how he screwed them over. I don’t even like Breezepelt, but honestly no wonder he came out the way he did, Crowfeather was a terrible father and the reveal later on only worsened things by destroying his only stable support system, his mother, who was struggling due to Crowfeathers actions (or inaction - deadbeat dad budum tshh) before the reveal even happened!

The story is so absurdly confused in how it makes him do all this and then tells us “Crowfeather isn’t a bad guy he’s just misunderstood”, so in reality he just ends up being a kind of nothing character. Outside of his relationship issues I honestly don’t even know his motives. He’s one of the biggest examples of poor character writing in this series and I find it funny that his girlfriends are all a shit ton more interesting than he is.

I’m sorry about the Ted talk I just really needed to scream this into the void.

hot take! please make a post about this! no time to draw crowfeather (i really don’t want to sorry maybe ill add feather later) but you’re right! my feelings on crowfeather are very complicated because while i don’t mind him being edgy or whatever his entire arc is circulated around the women in his life and yet he’s given the spotlight.

[thornquillthefiendish]

did you draw crowhawk hypokits yet? o3o

When you sent this I hadn’t but since I should’ve by this point-

I made one!

This is Falconflight, first born son of Hawkfrost and Crowfeather (I might make more). More info on his story under the cut

So in this relatively feel-good au, Hawkfrost decides instead of just a quick grift to just. Commit to moving to WindClan during the conflict, while originally it’s for the plan he and mudclaw have brewing, eventually things settle down before anyone can die and mudclaw remains deputy while Onestar eases into leadership a bit better. Hawk and Crow have known eachother before this and have had a thing for each other so not long after hawkfrost has Falconkit, he’s a single kit since they’re still like young adults and he was definitely conceived out of excitement that they could have kits without severe judgement (at least not as severe as a “full fledged” halfclan kit). Falconkit is raised well by his fathers, oddly enough, between two obnoxious idiots he becomes weirdly well adjusted and…very sweet? Despite his tall, dark intimidating looks, Falconflight is a big softy, which no one expected out of hawkfrost and crowfeathers union, and he’s always been notably soft spoken compared to his parents. Falconkit becomes a paw around Breezekits birth, which still happens, but he’s not Crowfeather’s son since him and Nightcloud don’t have a reason to get together, instead Nightcloud has kits with an unknown source (insert your ship here). Hawkfrost and Nightcloud are actually decently good friends so when the litter is unfortunately born mostly stillborn, hawkfrost lends his support and breezekit and Nightcloud become honorary family to them, with breezekit and falconpaw growing up close. Breezepelts later rebellion is still fueled by “daddy” issues, but the issue is he doesn’t know who that is even.

In his more interpersonal plot, Falconflight had experienced strange dreams as a kit, often of a shadowy woodland where a dark tabby would step out from the undergrowth and speak to him. Hawkfrost would often stay awake to guard his son while he slept, waking him from the nightmares when he felt him stir. The dreams would fade before apprenticeship, and Falconflight carries little to no memories of them ever occurring. His mentor was mudclaw, and yet again somehow none of that rubbed off on him. He’s known in his adulthood as a heartthrob, even openly spoken of outside of WindClan, but he remains ambiguous about his love life. He’s just oddly very good and kind and there is no catch, I mean it legit he’s just. A soft man. That being said, he’s extremely intimidating having inherited a very distinct set of traits from his dads, mainly being Crowfeather’s distinct facial shapes (very oriental cat breed esc) and Tigerstars genes which made him a bit more muscular than most WindClanners, something that must’ve skipped over hawkfrost somehow. He’s inherited some personality traits from his fathers even though he is simply too kind to be from either of them, for example, he makes terrible jokes and puns, but unlike hawkfrost he actually thinks it’s very funny. They enjoy torturing Crowfeather. We still don’t know what he got from Crowfeather, and maybe he lucked out there.

Bonus; if he were to have a voice it’d be Jeremy Irons, just to add to the whiplash that is his personality.

[the-owl-tree]

tbh even if crowfeather WAS a “tragic” character, most of his tragedies he brought upon himself by refusing to be a somewhat palatable person to be around. everyone canonically agrees crowfeather is an ornery piece of shit and it ain’t even in a charming way. if he wasn’t the biggest bleeding cunt in the forest next to jayfeather and bramblestar, then maybe he wouldn’t have lost the two women in his life that were willing to work things out or at least behave cordially with him, lost the opportunity to get to know his kids (obv with limitations) and maybe he wouldn’t be so damn miserable and lonely. but idk poor sad man who lost his crush 35 years ago so ig he’s got a tragic enough backstory to excuse his behavior. I used to be a crowfeather stan and a nightcloud hater because I didn’t know any better 💔

like the thing about him is anything that can be taken as him bringing consequences on himself is just....idk immediatelly dispelled by the series he's in or the fact that the consequences are temporary or places onto someone else. like feathertail being fridged for his man pain does not convince me of how sad and tragic crowfeather's life is! when confronted by breezepelt, crowfeather immediately pushes the blame onto nightcloud (and the narrative takes this as facts, there are multiple instances where the books double down on this narrative), and the crowfeather's trial doesn't even let him be miserable because it needs his mom and fridged gf to come down to the afterlife to coo over how sad he is and help him make amends with his sanded down ex wife and child he abused (who can no longer be angry with him or else they don't deserve the chance to forgive him). he is literally rewarded for doing the bare minimum by becoming deputy (despite his own super edition showing what horrendous leadership skills he has)

he's hardly tragic he's like the most obvious example of the writer's blatant double standard for male vs female characters in this series

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

🔥6, 7, and 19!

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

SOME SquirrelCrow fans. Some of you guys acknowledge that Crowfeather is an asshole and use him to either have SquirrelCrow 3, keep Leafpool away from him, or have a similar toxic drama like SquirrelBramble only with 2 small cats... and Some of you guys seem to think Squilf would "keep him in check", as if he didn't hate Nightcloud for even just disagreeing with him... Or that it's somehow a woman's job to even do that. Husbands shouldn't need to be coddled and babies by their wives just to keep them from abusing children.

Squilf would Cut Crowfeather Open and Leave Him To Die Of Infection.

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

While I'm happy to say I've had the opposite happen with some characters (Star Flower for example)... It is usually the obvious culprits of "rabid fans convinced they need to defend their Sad Boi against Evil Women". Night/heart, Bramble/claw, Alder/heart, Crow/feather. Was neutral-negative on them all before (i still kinda liked early TNP Bramble and Crow, gave Crow leniency on being a teen but that shit got old quick), now hard negative.

8. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

As much as I dislike Alderheart, I like AlderVelvet. He just needs to unlearn his intense bigotry.

[dawnfinchh]

i made full “canon” allegiances for the start of midnight: link to google doc

“canon” is in quotations because a lot of this is guesswork about who logically would be around at that point in time, but aren’t listed in allegiances or mentioned in the book. for example, by crowpaw and owlpaw’s conversation in dawn, it can be inferred that owlpaw was a kit during midnight, but he is not listed in the book’s allegiances.

this is mainly a resource for fanworks.

general stuff that’s all still same as last time:

wiki pages are linked to character’s names

med cat = cleric

characters are listed by age

tc is the only clan without a “kit” rank as all kits in the clan have known parents

unlike the allegiances from into the wild, there the non-thunderclan clans seemed almost overbloated from the cats from the prequels, there was a lot more. guesswork with this. and even then we’re left with smaller clans

thunderclan:

pretty much just the same as midnight’s allegiances for them, listed in accordance for age

birchkit, larchkit, and hollykit are listed

onto the meat

shadowclan:

snaketail and whitewater - warriors in po3, and retire in avos. i’ve made them warriors

nightwing - she’s from dawn

smokefoot - he’s a warrior with an apprentice in the sight, so i made him a warrior. he could be younger, but i don’t want him to be too close in age with smokepaw

snowbird - she doesn’t show up until po3, but since ratscar is her brother and their parent(s) aren’t blackstar or russetfur (and very very likely not tallpoppy), she was probably born before all prequel/arc 1 cats died out

tallpoppy is a warrior for now, but will move to the nursery soon

riverclan:

reedkit/reedwhisker - i know that he was technically born in tpb, but in moonrise leafpaw mentions that he is recently apprenticed, so i am going with that age for the sake of the allegiances

icewing - she has kits in dark river. i made her a warrior so that she’s a decent age when she has her kits, since the gap between tnp and po3 isn’t very large

mintfur - he’s the father of icewing’s kits. he also has an apprentice in dark river

graymist - she also has kits in dark river

swallowpaw/swallowtail - according to mothwing’s secret, she’s mosspelt’s apprentice at this time

skyheart - she’s alive! and also the mother of kits. who are these kits? who knows. maybe the kits in the nursery at this time

stonekit/stonestream, splashkit/splashpaw, volekit/voletooth - they all become apprentices in dawn, meaning that they are kits at this time

ivytail - elder who dies in twilight

beechkit/beechfur - becomes an apprentice in twilight

windclan:

very little warriors. very sad :(

nightpaw/nightcloud - she could really be older or younger, but i think that being close to the same age as crowfeather is fine for her. she has no canon mentor, though

weaselkit/weaselfur, owlkit/owlwhisker, and thistlekit/thistlepaw - become apprentices in dawn

gorsekit/gorsetail the second - she has kits in the sight. her mate, beechfur, becomes an apprentice in twilight, so i made her the same age as him

cats outside clans:

smoke and darktail are listed

[bonefall]

I think Nightcloud's Thaw (assuming you keep that title) is a great idea not only because your Nightcloud is so interesting and because she as a character deserves more spotlight, but also because it would be interesting to see Crowfeather begin to change from her perspective. After all, you said it was a surprise he offered to help save Breezepelt at all- and what better way to show that than for us to not be inside his head when he makes the decision to offer to help?

I'm feeling more and more confident about it. I think BB!Nightcloud is absolutely the best choice of a character to observe the events of "Crowfeather's Trial," now Nightcloud's Thaw.

Nightcloud's Thaw is an okay title for now, but I want to bat around some more names.

It's meant to invoke the way her life begins to turn around, after Crowfeather's exile; beginning with that reveal, how Crowfeather's behavior reaches a breaking point in the Clan, her reputation turn-around, and finally accepting Crowfeather's help in aiding Breezepelt.

So "thaw" is one way to put it... but if I could capture something more related to the change of seasons or time, that would be good too. Nightcloud's Daybreak, Nightcloud's Horizon.

We can go through Nightcloud's process of unlearning with her.

The dread and fury at the reveal, the shock when Crowfeather actually sees a consequence, and the way that suddenly the Clan is sympathetic towards her in a way they'd never been

How this newfound empathy feels somewhat insulting to her, but, how it helps her start to realize that she DOESN'T deserve how Crow treats her.

Makes it easy to truncate most of OotS, can quickly be described as "they stayed together slightly longer, but if it wasn't dead, their relationship was quickly dying."

And really get to the meat of the story with how Crowfeather deflecting the blame of their son's Dark Forest training on her was the LAST straw. For everyone. Including Crowfeather himself.

(I think I'll actually change around the fight in the BOTTE to be Breeze attacking CROW, and Lionblaze STOPS him. Because killing his pathetic dad, in the end, wouldn't fix anything and would ruin his life forever. Really change it to stress that no one likes Crowfeather because of how he keeps treating people. If Crow wants to turn that around, he has to CHANGE.)

(Plus, something just feels nice about letting the two have a bond. Something about how they were both pulled out of the dirt at the Kitty Olympics and washed clean by Nightcloud, starting this deep, brotherly bond somehow. I'll have to revisit this.)

Nightcloud alone can link the way that Crowfeather is trying to change himself, AND the way Breezepelt is getting worse, in the way I want

She's cautious of Crowfeather, for good, obvious reasons. He hurt her, and has only ever used her good faith as leverage against her.

And she's charitable to Breezepelt, because she knows exactly what pain is behind his rash, emotional behaviors.

SO I can frame them both in the way I want through her eyes.

Plus, I need a place to put her childhood. If it's not here, I wouldn't have a good spot to put it.

I could link all the flashback segments with having Addersong pass away, since he would be VERY old at this point. It could be very bittersweet for her

She spent so much time away from her beloved mentor, who taught her so much.

She could have had so many wonderful years with him, his advice, and his songs. But now he's an elder in his last moons

All because she let her heart be hardened after the death of her family. Pain lead her astray so many times...

I'll probably rework a LOT of the stoat stuff. I know right away there's a lot of actions in CT I want to rip away from Crowfeather and hand over to Breezepelt; a lot of the loud, openly argumentative moments he has with Onestar for example. SHOW the way that Breezepelt interprets Harespring/Darkseeker's diplomatic responses as "sniveling and traitorous" to him.

Have Nightcloud be trying to bridge this gap between Breezepelt and his Clanmates with her new reputation, and it just not working.

Maybe shuffle Nightcloud's disappearance near the end of the book, around the time that the Kin appears. Show that his mother being suspected dead was a BIG reason Breezepelt made such an emotional choice to join the Kin, and bring his other allies with him.

[wc-confessions]

every time an artist who's known for really liking/disliking certain characters/ships gets called out i've noticed a wave of hate for the characters they liked. for example when draikinator was called out people started hating on nightcloud and defending crowfeather bc they loved night and hated crow. people also started shitting on mothpool because they really liked it. then when crystalcolors got called out people switched around to loving night and hating crow again because they loved crow and hated night. and then when ephemeral moth got called out all of a sudden there's a bunch of people shitting on sunstar because he was their favorite character. and you're allowed to like/dislike whatever characters you want but i just think it's really funny how easily this fandom's opinions about them can be swayed by the actions of problematic artists that have nothing to do with the characters themselves.

ㅤ

[mommyclaws]

Sure :3

List of every Windclan cat from Tallstar's Revenge to Power of Three, sorted into age generations to the best of my abilities (+ Any significant outsiders who interacted with the clan! )

Here's a link so you can copy paste this list if you'd like

[Bonus] Gen -1: Present in Mapleshade's Vengeance and Goosefeather's Curse:

(MV)

Midgepelt♂️

Swiftflight♂️

Larkwing♂️

(GC)

Chiveclaw♂️

Gorsefoot♂️

Gen 0: Elders in Tallstar's revenge:

Whiteberry♂️

Flamepelt♂️

Flailfoot♂️

Wee Hen♀️ (Rogue visitor; implied to be elderly)

Heatherstar♀️ (<- Never described as elderly, but she is leader in GC, so I've put her in this generation in between Goose and Tallstar's books)

Gen 1: Adults in Tallstar's Revenge.

[Note: All of these cats were added in a timeframe where there is no way to gauge their birth orders nor do they have named siblings or parents. This group would probably count for two generations itself, but with the lack of information they are all together in one big mass]

Reedfeather♂️

Hawkheart♂️

Aspenfall♂️

Palebird♀️

Cloudrunner♂️

Dawnstripe♀️

Larksplash♀️

Sandgorse♂️

Woollytail♂️

Mistmouse♀️

Brackenwing♀️

Meadowslip♀️

Lilywhisker♀️

Redclaw♂️

Hareflight♂️

Plumclaw♀️

Appledawn♀️

Hickorynose♂️

Algernon♂️ (Rogue visitor)

Sparrow♂️ (Rogue visitor)

Mole♂️ (Rogue visitor)

Bess♀️ (Rogue visitor)

Gen 2: Tallstar's generation / Adults at the beginning of Onestar's confession:

Stagleap♂️

Ryestalk♀️

Doespring♀️

Shrewclaw♂️

Barkface♂️

Tallstar♂️

Reena♀️ (Rogue visitor)

Rabbitear♀️

Bristlebark♂️

Flytail♀️

Wrenflight♀️

Gen 3: Mudclaw's generation

Deadfoot♂️

Pigeonflight♂

Sorrelshine♀️

Mudclaw♂️

Tornear♂️

Crowfur♂️

Rushtail♂️

Oatwhisker♂️

Bailey♀️ (A kittypet and estimated guess. She is the mother of kittypets who are around Onestar's age)

Gen 4: Onewhisker's generation

Ashfoot♀️

Onewhisker♂️

Morningflower♀️

Brushpaw♂️ (Kittypet)

Tansypaw♀️ (Kittypet)

Whitetail♀️

Smoke♀️

(For any "Ruby is Smoke" enjoyers/theorists: Yes, Ruby would also be around this exact generation! TigerClaw and Scourge are nearly the same age, Tigerpaw is an apprentice in Windclan's Gen 3, meaning Scourge, Ruby, and Socks would be "Warrior age" in Onewhisker's generation. )

Gen 4 1/2: A weird "in-between" generation of apprentices added with (almost) no family. Slightly younger than 4 but definitely older than 5:

Gorsepaw♂️

Webfoot♂️

Runningbrook♀️

Robinwing♀️

Gen 5: Crowfeather's generation

Crowfeather♂️

Nightcloud♀️

Weaselfur♂️

Owlwhisker♂️

Darktail♂️

(Cats who are assumed to be in this gen, as they were added suddenly with no listed family)

Leaftail♂️

Gorsetail♀️

Dewspots♀️

Willowclaw♀️

Emberfoot♂️

Gen 6: Po3 generation

Antpelt♂️

Kestrelflight♂️

Harespring♂️

Heathertail♀️

Breezepelt♂️

Sunstrike♀️

(Gorsetail kits)

Swallowtail♀️

Thistleheart♀️

Sedgewhisker♀️

And that's as far as I care to go for now!

A note: For the most part, the cats do age realistically according to this list. For example, a generation above another is typically where a cat's parents or mentors are, and two or more gens above another is when cats are considered grandparents/older/elderly.

Hope this helps someone out there :salute:

Trying to fix Windclan’s family tree is such a nightmare

[malkumtend]

Sunny Day - An AU where Squirrelflight joined Crowfeather in Windclan.

Art by @lonely-ghost-606

Crowfeather wasn’t known for being a placid tom. Any cat in the clan would attest to that. A grumpy, yet dedicated, stick in the mud, oh yes, that was Crowfeather. But peaceful? That was an idea for the kits.

But still, every cat had their moments.

The stiff upper lip of Onestar could curl into a gentle smile if he didn’t realise.

The calm nuance in Ashfoot’s eyes could burn into a fiery glare if she was offended enough.

And Crowfeather, for all his seemingly never-ending rhythm of thriving in work, duty and battle, even he could appreciate a warm Greenleaf day.

Crowfeather yawned as he strolled away from camp. His legs still hurt a little from the gruelling chase that hare had given him that morning, but the prey had been caught and he’d since returned, ready for his next duty. But to his surprise, and abject horror, Ashfoot had praised him for a job well done and dismissed him until he was called for again.

He'd been given, what Ashfoot called, free-time.

When was the last time that had ever happened?

“Ashfoot, if there’s anything else I can do, I’ll do it.” He’d protested.

“I really don’t think there’s anything we need you for, right now, Crowfeather.” Ashfoot said. She’d finished inspecting the kill-pile from the morning hunts, a satisfied purr in her throat, and turned to her son. “Your patrol already had an exceptional hunt, I can’t think of anything else you can do.”

“There must be something.”

“Unless you want to pick the ticks off of the elder’s, I don’t think there is.” Ashfoot smirked as Crowfeather grimaced. He was bold, but not quite enough that he’d volunteer for apprentice duties. “I suppose you could ask Nightcloud if she’d like you to give her some help with training Echopaw.”

Crowfeather stiffened. “I’ll pass.”

Ashfoot chuckled, “I thought you would.”

Nightcloud, as grateful as she could be for help, was not known for her leniency in training. Especially with Warriors that she could make an example of for her apprentice. The last time Crowfeather had helped her out with that… He still shuddered deep in his bones.

How was it possible for a cat to throw anyone that high in the air?

“Well apart from that, I think you’re fine for now.”

Crowfeather craned his neck, “So what do I do then?”

Ashfoot shrugged, “That’s up to you. So long as you’re staying in our own territory.” Her lips curved into a playful grin.

Crowfeather was unimpressed, “Not funny.”

“Oh, cheer up.” Ashfoot wrapped her tail around her son’s shoulder blades and guided him away from the centre of the camp. She extended her whiskers to the clearing of hills, shining emerald under the warm sun. “It’s a beautiful day. Why don’t you make the most of it?”

It was true. The day was especially bright today. The sky was a nice, clear blue that sparkled in the afternoon luminesce, no clouds hovered overhead, leaving the sun bare and beating its mellow glow over the moors. Any apprentice, and most cats, would have counted themselves lucky to be granted some time to indulge in it. But still…

“But there are so many important things I could be doing!” Crowfeather meowed. If there was one thing that incensed him, it was laziness. Frolicking about and doing nothing had no place in a thriving clan.

“Not right now, there aren’t.” Ashfoot batted his shoulders, “You’re not quite a Deputy yet, Crowfeather. You don’t have to be working every time a rabbit leaves a burrow.”

Crowfeather wasn’t sure how much he believed that. But one thing was true. Ashfoot was Deputy, and a great one, she knew how to manage a clan. If she said that there was nowhere he was needed for the moment, it was probably true.

“But-”

“No buts.” Ashfoot said decidedly. “Windclan isn’t going to burst into flames if you enjoy yourself for a little bit, Crowfeather.” She patted his neck once more, before striding away to check on the apprentice’s sun-high training. “You go on now.” She paused. “Oh, and uh,” Her head slyly tilted back, her eyes narrowed with authority. “That’s an order, not a request.” Off her son’s unamused stare, she grinned, huffed and walked away, her long tail swaying gaily behind her.

Crowfeather knew she was joking, but there was still a nagging in his head that made him obey his Deputy. So, looking around one last fruitless time and seeing that no cat looked his way asking for help, Crowfeather sighed and padded off into the hills. The hills where he knew no patrols were scouting today.

Originally, he’d left hoping in his heart that there may be an extra rabbit or mouse he could catch for the clan. But he’d let that idea go with a grumble. Windclan only hunted when they were ordered. Unneeded prey was prey that had been killed disrespectfully, and that went against Windclan’s morals.

Crowfeather groaned as the sun beat down on his back. He really was just expected to do nothing for the time being. Nothing at all.

It wasn’t like there were any clear scents around him anyway. And he’d gotten far enough from the clan for the excited chatter of apprentice’s or tight discussions of his clanmates to fade away. Now he was just surrounded by nothing but the flush of warmth on his fur, and the whispering breeze that crept over the moors, making his fur tingle with a regretful peace.

Crowfeather looked around, he was stood at the spur of a hill that overlooked a tangle of purple wildflowers. He thought they were lavender from how they smelled, but it was a bit too far to be sure.

But nevertheless, what he did smell, sent a serene wash over him. Auras of gentle mists, sweet and sharp, glittered inside him, mixing with the lucid sunlight that stroked each of his whiskers remarkably.

Everywhere was just gleaming. The sky, the hills, and the sun, they all glowed as if they could hold their smiles. Bright, happy smiles that were nothing but alluring, intoxicating even. Crowfeather held a breath in his throat. He hardly had time to realise just how beautiful his home was. But here he was.

It really was peaceful out here.

A soft heaviness had begun to slip into Crowfeather’s eyes. He blinked slowly, sinking his body down as he stretched his tight forelegs out. An almost submissive sigh escaped him as he heard his the joints pop with relief, immediately wiping the pain of his earlier chase away. As his back arched, the glow of the sun only slid over his back with more ease. Starclan above, did it feel good.

Almost without realising it, Crowfeather had dropped onto his belly, and then his forepaws had curled over one another, prepared. Crowfeather blinked, a frown still on his muzzle. He couldn’t abide laziness usually. He got his sleep when he needed it and worked the rest of the time.

But there was no work to be done.

And he had been working hard, he was no layabout.

He yawned again, and softly his head began to nudge down until his chin was resting on his forepaws. The sun was still glowing, and the breeze still stroked every strand of his fur.

A small nap would do him no harm.

After all, what good could he be if he wasn’t at his very best. A little break could do him nothing but good in the future.

Letting his body curl on the warm grass, still bright under the kisses of sunlight, Crowfeather pslowly let his eyes drift closed. Gently, he felt himself go limp until the heavy air of sleep began to escape him. He let his mind accept the warm darkness as his consciousness faintly slipped into the lull of sleep.

Crowfeather slept peacefully, for six minutes.

He was awoken on the seventh by the heavy pressure of fur colliding with his back. His eyes bursting open, Crowfeather tried to jump to his feet, his heart already in his mouth as he caught onto the surprise attack. He rushed to push himself up, but something lay on his back and try as he might, he could barely budge save for a few desperate twitches.

Already planning his next move, Crowfeather hissed, he unsheathed his claws, spitting to rake his claws on the intruder’s flesh.

Then he heard the laugh.

And, with a groan, the panic drained out of him, replaced by a hard frown and a rumbling irritation.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” He snapped.

The cat laying on his back snickered brightly. “Hey, it isn’t my fault you had your guard down.”

“I was asleep!”

“Still means you were defenceless. You can’t blame me for taking the opportunity.”

Crowfeather scoffed, “I’ll find a way.” He tried to move away again, but found he was still stuck. He struggled for emphasis, using his tail to hit his captor’s legs. “Can you get off of me?”

“What are the magic words?”

“Squirrelflight!”

He could almost hear the molly smirk. “Not what I was looking for, but it’s a magic word so I’ll let you off.”

With a quick puff, the weight relieved of off Crowfeather’s back. He sat up, stretching himself and shaking his ruffled fur. At another laugh, he turned to glare at the molly beside him, who grinned smugly as she licked her one white forepaw.

Crowfeather sucked in a deep breath for strength. He got onto his belly again, his legs still stiff from his brief sleep. “Seriously, I could have scratched you!” He scolded.

Squirrelflight rose an eyebrow, her ginger chest fluffing out. “I wouldn’t have given you the chance. Besides, you didn’t. No harm done.”

“You could have just said something.”

Squirrelflight rolled her eyes. “Oh, what would be the fun in that?”

Crowfeather shook his head, his scowl softening as he did so. Squirrelflight had sat herself next to him, still grooming her paws but allowing her fluffy tail to gently slide over the back of her mate. Though he kept silent, Crowfeather had to admit, it did feel pleasant.

“How did you even find me anyway?” He asked, his voice low but level again.

Squirrelflight smiled down at him. “When I saw your patrol back at camp without you, I asked Tornear where you had gone. He said you went in this direction, so I went out to look for you.” She dipped her head down and lightly groomed the tom’s left ear. “Once I smelt you,” She piped grinning, “It wasn’t too hard to find you.”

Crowfeather scoffed at the insult, but deep in his heart, there was a bright, sparkling sensation that Tornear had helped Squirrelflight so easily. He’d been one of the many cats in Windclan who’d openly protested Onestar’s decision to let Squirrelflight stay when she’d first padded beside Crowfeather into camp. After it was clear that she was here to stay, Tornear had made it clear through snarls and grunts, whenever the ginger cat passed, that he didn’t trust her.

He hadn’t been the only one.

Crowfeather, who hissed right in the faces of his former friends, was nothing but amazed when Squirrelflight did nothing but blink, dip her head and get back to her duties when the snarls lashed at her.

It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. Squirrelflight had assured him once when they were curled together in their nest. At least Windclan have a reason to hate me. She’d laughed after saying that.

Crowfeather hadn’t. He’d only thought of what she could have possibly heard in Thunderclan to make her so strong in the face of Windclan.

He hadn’t seen Squirrelflight cry once in all the days she was met with nothing but hostility from her new clanmates. But that didn’t stop him from licking her cheek every time it happened, just in case.

But eventually, as her pelt began to linger with the scent of the rabbits she’d chased and the tall grass she’d trailed, as her reluctant patrol partners gawked at how simply she snarled at the threats of those ‘old clanmates’ she encountered on the border with Thunderclan, as she declared day after day that Windclan was her home now and forever, even the most hardened cats of Windclan had started to look at her a new way. The twitch of consideration on their whiskers.

And when she’d jumped, without hesitation, at a Buzzard that had swept down to snatch two apprentices, who just a few hours before had joked between themselves “She definitely ‘flies’ between clans quicker than any Squirrel I’ve ever seen” right in front of her, that was when it had really begun to change.

Cats would greet her when they passed, they would build a satisfied smile when she was on their patrol, and when little Specklepaw became an apprentice and found out that Squirrelflight was to be her mentor, the excited mew that erupted made all of Windclan shine. It was later that night Crowfeather heard Squirrelflight cry, happy, breathy sounds that thankfully felt right.

The cats who didn’t see her as a friend saw her as a clanmate.

And that was enough for them to know everything would be fine.

Right now, she looked well. She looked like herself – which in itself meant she was happy. Her emerald eyes were even brighter than the sun-kissed grass, and springs of sunlight cast a fiery mist over her, making her ginger fur burst all the more. She hadn’t changed much from her days in Thunderclan, save for the new rhythm of run and chase that made up her hunting now. Her legs had certainly tensed with new muscle, which she’d been overjoyed to demonstrate to her mate, and underneath the extravagant tufts of her fur, Crowfeather knew when he pressed against her that she had become leaner in the past few moons.

But apart from that, nothing major had changed about her. Which suited Crowfeather just fine.

He let out a yawn, the echoes of sleep rippling in his head. “How did Specklepaw’s training go today?”

“Really well!” The molly beamed. “On the dawn patrol she was practically on her belly stalking the boundaries.” She let out a laugh. “Honestly, she didn’t relax until we were back at camp. Then she started begging me to take her on the dusk patrol later.”

“Will you?”

“I’ll talk to her parents, but I don’t think there’s much to worry about. From what I’ve seen, she’ll handle herself perfectly in battle. The only thing I’d say is that she needs to learn how to defend herself a little more. She really puts everything into her attack.”

Crowfeather snorted, “I wonder who she got that from.”

Squirrelflight scoffed batting the tom’s cheek softly, “Her mentor, Crowfood. Now tell me, when are you going to become one?”

“When Onestar sees sense, I suppose.” He’s not so tired that he’s lost his wits. As happy as he is that Squirrelflight was accepted, he couldn’t help but chew at his tail that he had yet to be given an apprentice.

“Oh really? Has it not occurred to you that maybe an apprentice likes a mentor who might praise them once in a while?”

“I’m not that bad.”

She guffaws at that, nose crinkling in outright exuberance. “Potentially. But you don’t exactly help yourself.”

Crowfeather closes one eye, mocking disinterest. “Really? Then how do I do that?”

Squirrelflight scratched her chin thoughtfully, “Have you ever heard of a smile?”

“Mouse-brain.” He says, matter-of-factly, but simply as well. Squirrelflight giggled. There was an ever-growing heaviness in the eye Crowfeather still had open. “So where’s Specklepaw now? Shouldn’t you be training her still, oh glorious mentor?”

Squirrelflight stuck her tongue out at him. “I told you, I’ll take her out on the dusk patrol later. Right now, she’s helping clean the elder’s bedding. She’ll be doing her best to make a good impression, I know,” Her tail swayed gracefully, “She really wants to go tonight.”

Crowfeather’s muzzle wrinkled, “She should be trying her hardest with her duties no matter what. Not just because they want a reward.”

“And that’s why every apprentice is afraid of you, Crowfeather.” Squirrelflight said, bumping his side. “Of course she’s working hard. But I don’t want her to be on edge all the time. She’s allowed to enjoy her apprenticeship.”

“That’s not how I remember it.” Crowfeather said lowly, there hadn’t been a day of enjoyment under Mudclaw.

“So maybe you can change that when you do finally get one.” Squirrelflight purred, she nudged her nose against his cheek and Crowfeather fought the heat that burst at the contact. “It’s not mouse-brained to want your apprentice to like you.”

Crowfeather made a light murmuring sound, but they both knew he only did that when he didn’t want to admit she was right. The last thing he’d ever want to do was leave the impression, his mentor had on him, with his own apprentice. He wanted an apprentice who respected him, and one who would listen to him, but never one who was… afraid of him.

Maybe that was why Squirrelflight had gained an apprentice first. She got on with cats so easily. But then, to Crowfeather anyway, she was impossible to hate.

Despite what his first impressions might have argued.

It was quiet for a moment after that. Crowfeather was still tired so he didn’t notice the fragility of that silence until Squirrelflight spoke up once more. Her voice closer, but quieter. “On the border patrol,” Squirrelflight’s thin voice was what made Crowfeather turn her way. She was looking to the hills, a thoughtful glaze on her face. “Specklepaw noticed the Thunderclan patrol. Dustpelt was with them.”

Something sank in Crowfeather’s stomach, his head slowly pulled itself up until his eyes were just a whisker from her face. “Squirrelflight…”

“She asked me if it was okay to hiss at them.” The ginger cat chuckled gently, “I told her no, obviously. They still noticed us, of course.”

Crowfeather felt a sickly urge to burst to his paws. “Did they say anything to you?” He meowed, his neck already prickling.

Squirrelflight pressed a paw over his, her head shaking. “No. Most of them just walked away. Dustpelt… nodded at me though.” She licked her shoulder, as if embarrassed to be ruffled over something so small.

But Crowfeather understood. “What happened?”

“That’s it really. He nodded at me, I nodded back. That was it.” Squirrelflight shrugged, “I was just surprised, that’s all. I never thought he would…” She froze, then forced herself back into motion. “Specklepaw asked me who he was. I just told her he was an old clanmate, that’s all. Was that wrong of me?”

“Of course not.” Crowfeather said smoothly, “It’s up to you what you tell your apprentice.”

Squirrelflight murmured, obviously hoping she looked more unaffected than she was. She didn’t. “I just didn’t see the point of telling her. It wouldn’t do any good after all. It’s not like he’s my mentor anymore.”

That made sense to Crowfeather, but he knew from the strangled way she spoke that something was wrong. He didn’t sit up, but he managed to edge himself close enough that his tail could touch her back. “You shouldn’t blame yourself.” He said stonily.

“I don’t!” Squirrelflight meowed too desperately.

Crowfeather’s tail tenderly trailed down her spine. “Good. They didn’t deserve you.” He still couldn’t stop himself from growling when he thought back to all those nights they’d met in secret and found her struggling to keep strong after the harshness of that day. How Thunderclan could have been so stupid to treat her the way they did left Crowfeather with nothing but bitterness for those cats.

Squirrelflight was one of the greatest cats he knew. But she’d been forced to deal with toms treating her like territory to claim for themselves, patrols that dismissed her advice as an annoying Warrior who had barely grown from her apprentice days, and a father who, despite her pleads to not trust the blue-eyed tom over the river, had just commanded her to stop vexing their relationship with Riverclan.

Of course, she’d been right about the latter. But by the time Firestar realised that, Squirrelflight hadn’t felt at home for moons.

That was their fault. That was why Crowfeather would not open his heart to pity whenever he saw the betrayed glare of Brambleclaw, or the heart-broken grimace of Firestar.

Crowfeather had waited for Squirrelflight to make her choice, and she’d chosen a new start. And now she had a life where she was truly respected and loved like she deserved; she’d made that life for herself.

At the thought of being deserved, Squirrelflight laughed again. “Don’t hold it against them. I don’t.”

“That’s because you’re a nicer cat than I am.”

“That wouldn’t be too hard.” Squirrelflight’s eyes slid over Crowfeather and he felt that endless pleasure across his spine that sparked whenever he knew that she was here and they had made it despite everything. This kind of comfort still felt so unusual. His pleasure dimmed though when he saw Squirrelflight drift off again. “Dustpelt looked well.” She said, her voice jumping a little. “I was happy to see that.”

Crowfeather didn’t truly get why she missed members of the clan that had driven her heart away from them, but it wasn’t his job to understand. Just to know that in her heart, a part of her did. After all, she had become a fine Warrior, so that Dustpelt must have done something right.

“I’m sure he’s happy you’re okay as well.”

Squirrelflight turned, smiling, and with a swish of her tail the soft melancholy in her eyes sparkled into something bright and firm. “I wouldn’t go that far.” She said, her voice much stronger than before. Her ears flicked actively. “I remember him looking more tired than he was ever happy.”

Crowfeather leaned comfortably down on his forepaws again, the faintest curl of a smile on his lips. “Tired? With you as an apprentice?” He rolled his eyes before he shut them again. “Who would have thought?”

“Hey, give him some credit, he never slumped about like you.” Squirrelflight exclaimed.

“Wasn’t my choice. I asked Ashfoot if I could help with anything, but she ordered me to head out of camp.”

Squirrelflight swallowed a wave of laughter. “Of course. Only you would need to be ordered to do nothing for once.”

“Well, what are you doing?”

“Me? Oh, I’m spending my precious time with my stuffy excuse for a mate.” Squirrelflight chirped, “You should be so lucky.”

‘Lucky’ was not exactly how Crowfeather would describe it. But he wouldn’t complain either. In fact, if he wasn’t doing anything, and if he was going to share this golden sun and warm bed of grass, he was glad it was with her.

“Yes, I’m truly blessed.” Crowfeather sayid instead, dryly. “Well, if it’s all the same to you, I think I might get back to-”

He heard her jump to her feet, the ‘bounce’ of her tail always bursting with aggressive elation. “We shouldn’t just lie around like elders! Come on, let’s wrestle! Just like old times!”

Crowfeather blinked a few drowsy times, before the absurdity of her request compelled him to laugh. She frowned as his toneless laughter sank into them. “I don’t think so.” He said eventually, closing his eyes once more.

“Why not? Scared you’ll lose?”

Crowfeather wasn’t so idiotic that he’d fall for that. “I wouldn’t lose.” He pointed out, just to make it clear. “But I didn’t come out here to play apprentice games, Squirrel.”

The fur around the molly’s neck prickles, “Games? What kind of cat do you take me for?”

“You really want me to answer that?”

Squirrelflight growled.

“If you want to train, you should do it with your apprentice.” Crowfeather said, “Not with your mate, who would like to get some peace and quiet for once.”

“Peace? Quiet?” Crowfeather felt hot breath on his face as a nose pressed roughly against his. “This is coming from the cat who spent yesterday arguing with his patrol about what was the right hunting techniques to catch a rabbit!”

“Nightcloud spent the morning watching it!”

“She was showing her apprentice what to do, you feather-brained weasel.”

“In any case,” Crowfeather deadpanned, pushing her face away lightly, “I’m not kit-sitting you today.”

“Oh, come on!” Squirrelflight protested, “What else are you going to do?”

“Umm, whatever I want. Which is nothing, right now. You’re free to join me, unless you have somewhere else to be.” He teased. If there was one thing Squirrelflight loathed, it was being bored. She had more energy than she had fur.

But Crowfeather had meant his invitation. Even if she didn’t know it, she deserved a break herself. She’d been through so much to get where she was now. If any cat truly needed a well-earnt rest for once, it was her.

Crowfeather anticipated a scoff or another sharp-tongued remark, but all that met him was a brisk quiet. Just the faint smell of lavender and the swelling soak of the sun in his fur. It wasn’t long before his head began to swim towards sleep again. He took the silence as an indication that Squirrelflight had taken her own space to catch some rest. He hoped so anyway. If she’d padded off and he hadn’t noticed, he knew he’d get an earful about it later.

He was just about to open one eye when he felt two heavy mounds, he knew must have been paws, push his shoulders down, dragging his face with them. His heart didn’t even have time to race before he felt something nip on one of his ears and pull back, the way a kit would with their exhausted parents.

Crowfeather wasn’t a parent yet, but he knew he was dealing with a kit of some description.

He hissed as his ear was stretched without his consent. “Squirrelflight! Stop it!”

“All you have to do is push me off!” The muffled, but still bristling with glee, voice trilled back. The weight heaved on Crowfeather’s back, bringing him down and up as his legs scrambled about.

Crowfeather’s face was hot, whether his anger or shame was more the reason was up for debate. Peace evaporated from his mind as he focused on shaking the ball of fluff off of him. From the looks of thing though, he’d have an easier time getting Blackstar to laugh. Squirrelflight knew fully well where his weaknesses lay, and she’d made sure that she was forcing him to put all his weight onto his thin body rather than his defined legs.

Lifting his body was like being absorbed into a small, furry mountain. Struggling just made it easier for his tormentor. His ear was released. “Is that all you’ve got?” Squirrelflight cooed, before taking his other ear prisoner and pulling back until he had to grit his teeth.

“This isn’t funny!”

“I think that’s a matter of perspective!” She said letting go of his ear again to let out a laugh.

Crowfeather just about felt weight relax on him. Just enough for him to twist his body until his chest was against hers. Squirrelflight’s eyes widened as her mate turned beneath her, but a delighted flash awoke in her smile. Now things were getting started.

Crowfeather was perfectly aware that she’d pulled him into her trap. But Starclan strike him down if he cared. Adrenaline coursed in his veins and he was ready to teach his mate a thing or two.

He pressed his paws against her chest and pushed, anticipating her struggle. It would be simple, the harder she pushed back, the easier it would be to slip out of her paws, and once he did that, he would lunge where he knew she couldn’t get a firm hold. He braced for the war of their paws.

And found her jump back the moment he stormed forward. There was an expectant, victorious grin on her face.

“You’re so predictable.” Squirrelflight winked.

Crowfeather stared for a moment, and before he could remember that cats weren’t meant to hold themselves up on two paws, he felt himself fall back. Right towards the slope of the hill. No words came together in Crowfeather’s mind before his head hit the first patch of grass. Just a dreadful image that somewhere, where the stars shone high and bright, there were a group of cats all staring down at him and laughing.

Luckily, he didn’t need to think about it long as his head bounded down the hill, to a chorus of giggles from where he once slept.

Crowfeather tumbled down, rolling on his head and rump, bouncing again and again with small thuds here and there that made his teeth chatter and his head spin.

He finally was granted mercy when he finally met level ground, his back sliding back onto a soft bed that did nothing to ease the aches that left him winded and spinning. What he did take notice of was the strong scent around him, sharper than ever, which let him know he was currently residing in the middle of the lavender stalks.

The smell was intoxicating, but not enough for Crowfeather to hold back the long, drained groan that deflated out his belly.

He was beyond tired.

But awake enough that he noticed the shadow cast over his eyes and the satisfied pressure of a paw on his chest. He could only narrow his eyes and wearily glare as the taste of his mate’s triumph surged in her voice. “And that Crowfeather,” The cat with the face splitting grin meowed, “Is another reason why you don’t have an apprentice yet!”

He could have tried to fight her off him again. But by this point it would just be like writhing in a snake’s coils. Just all the more fun for her. Crowfeather knew when he was beat. So he just let her smile gleam down like another sun and tried not to think about how there was a serene glow in her eyes.

“Weakling.” She chided, getting down low so he was forced to take in her smirk.

Crowfeather blushed and grunted as her claws tapped over his parting fur, gently pricking at his chest. He tries to avoid her eyes but she’s all the more determined to stare into his, pride and victory all in her every move.

But, Crowfeather raised a brow, something else as well. Warm and doting.

Crowfeather kept his face stoic, but something burned inside him. A plan. An opportunity. A reminder that Squirrelflight, for all her crazy strength and quick wit, had weaknesses too.

He smiled, truly.

Squirrelflight noticed, eyes wrinkling with confusion. Predictably, she leaned closer to demand what was going on.

That gave Crowfeather the perfect time to wrap his paws over her shoulders, pull himself up, and place a soft kiss just under her jawline, just edging the tender spot on her neck.

Crowfeather smirked as he felt the tremble, the gasp, tight, breathy, ruffle all over the cat in his paws.

She melted like an ice flow. The paw on Crowfeather’s chest burst open, letting him go, and her legs buckled in, giving clarity to her true size. Her back, already drenched in warm sunlight, burned fiercely, and Crowfeather wasted no moment in twisting himself, his paws still wrapped around her, until he was the one on top.

Crowfeather let a victorious purr rumble in his throat. Squirrelflight, in all her shock, still blushed feverishly, her fur still shaking with every breath. Even with Crowfeather’s shadow on her face, her eyes still sparkled like mysterious pebbles. Her mouth hung halfway, absorbing the situation.

Crowfeather leant down, placing his lips to her ear. The way she loved. “And that,” he whispers, “Is why Specklepaw isn’t a Warrior yet.”

He lets himself chuckle as she growls, coming to terms with her anger. “It’s not honourable for a Warrior to cheat.”

Crowfeather realised he didn’t feel tired anymore. But warmth still filtered inside his head. “Maybe not. But it sure is satisfying.”

Squirrelflight glared at him, but she’s saw him smile, and she had to respond to such an honour. Her paws felt light as they dipped into his chest fur. The smell of fresh lavender glistened in their mixing colours. There was a warmth in their chests, easy to share, but easier to lose themselves in.

The world went quiet, as if falling silent only for them.

Crowfeather noticed then just how much Squirrelflight smelt of home. Moorland mist and grassy smoke. Not to say he’d been bothered by the shimmers of pine and oak that had graced over her before - anything felt right on her – but still, the moors suited her, he thought.

When Squirrelflight rolled them over again, Crowfeather didn’t protest this time. It wouldn’t have done any good. He’d had his moment, but he knew who the stronger cat was. He’d had a long time to accept that, though it didn’t mean she didn’t rub it in any less.

But he cared less and less. Sometimes he liked to be reminded.

“Are you going to let me up?” He asked. She wasn’t holding him down like before, but he indulged her anyway.

Her eyes half-closed, reflecting lavender glows. Her claws traced over his shoulder. “What’s are the magic words?”

“Squirrelflight…” He blushed. A part of him knew he would give her what she wanted but it doesn’t make it any less humbling.

“Ah ah ah! I let you off once already!” She placed a forepaw over another, just over his chest. Crowfeather let his head bury in the warm grass as she waited, beaming. “You know what I want to hear.” She sang.

Crowfeather held out for a while, but when she started rubbing her nose where she knew his chin was ticklish, he accepted the lesser humiliation. “Okay! Okay!” He surrendered, failing at hiding his smile as he met her patient eyes. “I love you.”

“That’s right!” Squirrelflight teased, and as if it had been what she was planning this whole time, she gave the tom a big smooch on his muzzle. Crowfeather felt her purr, even as she broke away. He too was purring soon enough, mostly when he felt Squirrelflight’s paw slip behind his neck as she uttered, “I love you too.”

They were a bundle of fur, side by side, in the grass. The tiredness had begun to take shape again, and this time they let it consume them both. Heck, they helped it. Squirrelflight’s tail curled over her back and softened Crowfeather’s chest like fresh bedding. Crowfeather kept one paw over it. Many cats wondered what the wonderous tail felt like, only a blessed few knew. It felt like peace to him.

“Just to be clear,” Squirrelflight mewed, her paw paddling over the back of his head, “I won that fight.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’ll always win.” She clarified.

“You’re such a kit.” She hasn’t lost that kittish heart that was there when he met her. If luck’s on his side, she never will. He’s the serious one, and she’s his heart.

“Yep. A kit that will always beat you.” The tail winded around him, tight and possessive.

The sun flickered all over them, but it was nothing but scenery when he held her close and she squeezed them into a sturdy embrace.

...

Many thanks to @lonely-ghost-606 for not only the amazing art that inspired this drabble, but for also giving me the prompt and idea for the plotline of this drabble! I appreciate the help, Ghost! 

Everyone please remember that if you like this art, @lonely-ghost-606 is currently taking commissions, so don’t waste any time and get yourself an amazing piece!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this ‘drabble’! 

If you didn’t, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more and I’d love to hear your criticisms.

But if you didn’t like it because you don’t like SquirrelCrow. Well... I don’t know why you’re here. I mean... what did you expect? Thanks for reading anyway though.

See ya next time guys.

[troutfur]

🍃Into the Wild - Favourite prophecy/omen?

Ask game

I'll hijack this ask to talk a bit more broadly to talk about my feelings regarding prophecies as plot devices. It builds up to my answer to the question, I promise.

There are many pitfalls writers, and specially newbie fantasy writers, fall into when writing prophecies. Using needlessly obtuse riddles to drive up tension, making their prophecies into glorified plot summaries, making "must fulfill prophecy" the only motivation for their protagonist to go protagonisting, etc. I think a lot of these come from misunderstanding the narrative role prophecies fulfill in the Indo-European mythic tradition.

In the Indo-European mythic tradition, prophecies are inciting incidents, set ups for twists, or most commonly both.

To give you an example of prophecy as inciting incident, just look at perhaps the most quintessential myth structure of the Indo-European mythic tradition: the king trying to avert a prophecy of his own doom who in the process ensures the prophecy comes to pass. I'm sure we can all name a couple examples off the top of our heads, mine are: King Acrisius and his grandson Perseus, Odin and Loki's children (Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungandr), and Kamsa and his nephew Krishna. In these stories, the downfall of the king who tried to avert the prophecy doesn't come because the prophecied individual is being forced to fulfill it, rather the king's actions themselves give the prophecied individual the motivations and often the means to fulfill it.

To give you an example of prophecy as twist, I think I can safely assume we are all familiar with Oedipus yeah? It's still an example of the above mythic structure, as King Laius tried to avert the whole "will kill his father and marry his mother" thing by abandoning him as a baby. But it's also the setup for the absolutely iconic twist that is finding out the prophecy ended up fulfilled in a very roundabout way.

(For a more "pure" example of prophecy as twist, although from (admittedly mythologized) history rather than mythology, may I offer King Croesus getting the "if you attack Persia, you will destroy a great empire" prophecy from the Delphic oracle, charging head first into attacking, and getting his whole kingdom annexed in the process?)

All this preamble to say, I think the kin of your kin prophecy is my favorite, if not in how it was executed in its potential to fulfill the narrative role of a good prophecy. It's ambiguous enough to be interesting (what does kin of your kin mean? isn't the kin of your kin also your kin? wouldn't it have sufficed to say "there will be three of your kin"? what does StarClan mean by wording it like that? what is "the power of the stars"? we know the three will be, but what will they do?) while not making it seem the deliverer of the prophecy relishes in giving out needlessly arcane riddles. It sets up a very clear motivation for our protagonists to engage in trying to solve the mystery of what it means. And most importantly it's open endedness provides the writer with endless possibilities to develop it.

Unfortunately that last point is, I think, its biggest weakness. Freedom can, unintuitively, be a killer of creativity. Creatives tend to work best when given at least some limitations. A personal balance must be struck between being given enough freedom to work with and enough limitations to serve as guidelines. It certainly seems the Erins ran into this problem when writing about the prophecy which reflected in the extremely meandering nature of Po3.

For how I'd implement the Po3 prophecy...

I like the idea that kin of your kin means kin to someone who's kin to Firestar but not directly to Firestar. I've used this concept before in Stars of the Night. In here the three are Crowfeather and Nightcloud's children, Breezepelt, Hollytail, and Jayroot, who are kin to Leafpool and Crowfeather's son, Lionclaw, but not themselves kin to Firestar. A twist like this, specially if the three are raised not having any familiar connection to a Firekin, would go a long way to not make the parentage reveal drama feel a little out of nowhere towards the end.

As for power of the stars in their paws I like the idea that the power in question is not only the supernatural abilities but rather agency over destiny, being placed at a junction in Clan history and being able to make a decision that will alter its course forever. A mutual of mine, @halogenwarrior, has talked extensively of an AU that takes a concept like this and runs with it. Highly recommend.

[pleckthaniel]

🔥 give me a hot warrior cats take

I 100% agree with all the people who point out that Nightcloud doesn't ever actually do anything wrong in the text of the books. She's mildly rude on occasion, but is much nicer than a lot of other, more beloved side characters (like, for example, Russetfur); she's honestly impressively tolerant of Crowfeather and Leafpool's "uwu our tragic love story" antics throughout arcs 3 and 4; and on the rare occasion that we see her interact with Breezepelt, she actually seems like a decent parent, both scolding him when necessary and supporting him in moments of crisis. The only canonical evidence that Nightcloud is an evil bitch or a coddling, overprotective parent in the entire text of Warrior Cats is from a book written from Crowfeather's point of view, and this is a guy who, no matter what your other opinions are on him, does flat-out hit his child at one point - so maybe his perspective on what "overprotective parenting" is is just a TEENSY bit unreliable.

THAT ALL BEING SAID. My hot take is that... I actually like Nightcloud to be kind of a bitch anyways. I think it makes her much more interesting, three-dimensional, and realistic than if she were just a flat-out damsel in distress. So I don't mind, necessarily, when people write her that way or talk about her that way; it's more when people insist that she is canonically shitty to Crowfeather and/or Breezepelt that I get annoyed, because she simply isn't.

[wickjump]

people justify the worst male characters and then bash the female characters

example:

crowfeather: neglected his son breezepelt so harshly he was manipulated as a teenager by grown ass cats into fighting for hell, ignored his son’s grievous injury that gave him claustrophobia and could possibly have cost him his ability to walk, explicitly would ignore his son’s achievements by literally any means necessary, married a woman (nightcloud) to ‘prove he was loyal to the clan’, basically ignored the fact she had two stillborns and only one surviving kit (breezepelt), and refused to go to Leafpool’s aid when the secret of THEIR CHILDREN’S heritage was found (yet the fandom still claims he loved her??)

nightcloud: was mean to crowfeather, fought with him a few times (DESERVED), and ‘coddled’ her only surviving son (actually gave a shit about him and tried to make up for crow’s neglect)

guess who the fandom likes more (it’s crowfeather)

not even counting the difference between how mapleshade (a female villain) and the other male villains are treated. yes she killed people that’s what villains do. why is she worse than the literal infant killer (brokenstar) in the fandoms eyes. god

sorry if you ever see me get worked up about warrior cats i just get mad because the fandom is sexist beyond belief. anyway