#sunnymoon rambles

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

I saw people doing a warrior cats unpopular opinion thing, and I thought about mine and like

My (maybe?) unpopular opinion is that A Shadow in RiverClan would have been better suited as a Mistyfoot-centric book.

The story makes Feathertail wildly out of character with who she is in The New Prophecy, and I feel like all the story beats would work just as well with Mistyfoot struggling as deputy to connect with her clanmates. It's the struggle between knowing your clan would have left you for dead in that hole, but knowing just as well that your mother's clan was never happy with you in it. Where do you belong? How do you cope?

How do you cope knowing that your friend was the lover of the dictator that ordered the death of your brother? The man who hated you for the crime of being your mother's shadow. How can you listen to her say that she misses him? You don't cope. You look at Hawkpaw and Mothpaw in a new light. They're a shadow of their father and don't even know it.

You're now in the pawsteps of the others around you. You look at them, and you see their traitorous father. Your clanmates look at you and see your mother, who was once the enemy of RiverClan. Legacy is inescapable, but you try to look past it. You regret knowing everything you do. You wish that the secrets would have just stayed buried.

It means a lot more when Leopardstar dies for you. It's not just a leader dying for her clanmate - it's what any leader should do. It's a leader dying for her deputy. It's a leader who understands that she should have died nine times over for Stonefur, but she didn't, and now all she can do is lay her life down for you. Things are not always going to be good between you both. But for now the two of you understand one another. There will not be another Bonehill, execution, or death.

You are the deputy of RiverClan. You are a part of RiverClan, and this is your home.

No matter what it takes.

[loversys-x3]

I've checked my snail mail tracking and apparently Moon is moving faster thru the mailing system than Sun. Which makes sense from the order I got them I think, but it still makes me a lil impatient because Sun literally just left the shipping department while Moon is. Somewhere? By a beach I think. Idk which one. Agh. I just can't wait for them to come in. So I have two more plushies to cuddle and get face rashes with besides Strong Bad and Wally.

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

The first passage is SO GOOD it made me actually get the book and start reading (something I do embarrassingly rarely) and man, it’s just interesting. Like, even going in knowing that the books have a lot of theme issues later on, it’s good for inspiration, I think. The salute is so creative and interesting and auuugh.

Thank u mister Bonefall for reading so I would end up reading too

A fire happens, the cute little stallion gets torched, and Clan territory is totally incinerated. They spent the night on the beach and Ratha wakes up to the proper introduction of Mr. Meoran, Our Antagonist For Today

[ID: Ratha bares her throat in a customary greeting and worried Meoran might abuse his ceremonial right and just bite her open]

I have SUCH a softness for big bads like this, man. I love this king caveman of a brute, and the idea he's such a primitive beast that there's a real chance he will enact the Law of the Jungle on her.

Aside from this custom being a really neat way to feline-ify a salute, it's just super cool how quickly we get across that Meoran is more animalistic than other Named cats.

With his hatred of the Unnamed, it would have been a really neat way to establish right off the bat for the series, "The real threat is an animal in our own midst, and he keeps us fighting against people who are not our enemies"

But ho hum. Anyway, Chad Meoran time

[ID: Thakur gently tries to suggest that maybe Meoran shouldn't bring the clan back to a barren, fire-ravaged wasteland. Meoran says Shut Up]

This is so funny djfhdjd brainless fucking dude. "I WANT TO GO HOME THE HORSECOWS WILL BE FINE."

"Sir this is a bad idea"

"1-800-DID-I-ASK?"

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

I think there is something interesting about critiques of Warrior Cats versus like, more adult media. And that's the way that Warrior Cats is, ultimately, a series for children, and I believe the fandom can sometimes be a great way to point out the major, major morals this series imparts. I think that characters should be and are encouraged to be flawed, HOWEVER, I wish that Warriors would be a little more careful with the messages that get put on page, whether they intend for it or not. Things like, get back with your abuser (Squirrelflight and Bramblestar, Dovewing and Tigerheartstar will remain an example of this to me too, even though it worked out), or literally anything about adoption from Dawn of the Clans, or the ways outsiders are portrayed. Or Spottedleaf's Heart.

I think the ways in which people make criticisms to Warriors in particular is really meaningful because I remember reading these books as a child myself and being so immersed in it. I also remember the Warriors forums and how awful the opinions on there could be sometimes, solely because of influence from the books. I don't know. I just feel like it's important to really nitpick children's media.

Like, Wings of Fire is by no means perfect, but at the very least it tries to have every character grow by the end of the book in some meaningful way that children and adults are able to understand. Warriors, I think, should lean into that more. Every book seems to be trying to tell a story rather than to impart something meaningful, and I think that's a little sad, considering the potential there to talk about the difficulties of family dynamics, the closeness and problems of communities, and just.. so much more than it has been.

So shoutout to people who rewrite! It's a tough job, but y'all are nailing it.

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

I wanted to throw my hat in the ring to show off how Moonpaw’s family tree is a gnarled bush. It’s a bit hard to read but that’s because everyone is related to each other! I don’t even think I hit all the points they’re related to each other at.

Erin Hunter delete Whitestorm

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

KICKS IN THE DOOR

Okay, so what if Bluestar’s prophecy was outright and blatantly wrong? What if it was a complete misreading of the sign?

Take Goosefeather’s Curse out of the equation. Bluepaw’s strange encounter with the fox and the fire could probably have been interpreted in many different ways.

She was separated by a predator’s jaws - she was SAVED - by a burning branch. What if her prophecy always meant that she would be saved from danger by fire, instead?

Bluestar was never meant to be fire. She was the ferocious mother of ThunderClan, its leader and queen. But ever since she was but an apprentice, StarClan had always known that fire would save her - and her beloved clan - from a danger that lurked in their very forest. Fire would save her. Fire would save everyone.

Perhaps, maybe, Goosefeather just couldn’t interpret it correctly because he hadn’t had the pieces to.

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Some inch-resting things I clocked while reading the new Wings of Fire guidebook. No super mind blowing analysis but here are some spoilers for things I found fun

The tribes that moved to Pantala years ago are BeetleWings, RainWings, SeaWings and LeafWings. Makes sense!

HiveWings have the ability to shoot some form of RainWing venom from their tails

SkyWings barely had nuclear families but had really cute wedding ceremonies :)

The real villain of the MudWing succession crisis were the abusive sisters we picked up along the way.

NightWings created the first written language!

The SkyWings have their own method of weeding out animus dragons.

There’s very particular wording in the book that states that “there haven’t been any male rulers since before the Scorching” which suggests that there HAVE been men on the throne in some far off distant past, but that the Scorching (aka The Fury of the Mothers) changed the succession rules.

Speaking of succession rules, it looks like the Pantalan tribes specifically pick their successors! Whenever the Pyrrhian tribes started doing mother daughter combat for throne started after the splitting off of those tribes, I bet. Somewhere 4,000-3,000 years ago at most.

Several mentions of the three moons. In the Tales of the NightWings, there was a NightWings who didn’t receive his power until he had a vision of a hurricane and two full moons. Additionally, Cricket specifies that Clearsight had the tribes move inland to seek shelter during a night of three full moons because of “bad vibes” - I wonder if that was to ensure that her descendants didn’t accidentally pick up old NightWings powers? Or it’s a coincidence.

IceWings have a pretty unique religion! It’s mentioned, but never delved into much - but enough fodder to play with, I think.

The Hives were organized into specific areas of study and research, such as Botany Hive, Animal Husbandry Hive, Arts and Humanities Hive, Medicine Hive, and more!

The RainWings became peaceful probably two generations after Darkstalker, or at least one generation. Mostly due to bad things happening. They became a primarily oral storytelling tribe!

There’s a branch of around 30 NightWings settled in the Old Night Kingdom! And it sounds like they’re finally getting to heal from the island.

Missing pieces from the animus IceWing collection, the intrigue!

Cliff has a dad and probably had no idea that his dad is a nursery daycare man who has been taking care of him this whole time in secret so Ruby could keep his dad safe but now Ruby feels safe enough to get married QQ

RainWings had a whole assassin program way back in the Darkstalker days. No wonder he found them so uninspiring (even though I adore those funky guys).

There was specifically a mention in Tales of the NightWings that there was an empath, much like Fatespeaker is. I wonder if they had any other empaths during the volcano era.

The horror of your brother including the letter you sent him about being with eggs getting included in his encyclopedia. Girl has a free pass for one throttling.

The SeaWings might be moving back to the Island Palace >:)

There’s more in there but that’s all I could think of thank u for reading <3

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Well, I had some free time, so I tried to make Luna’s honey drops!

First step: read and reread the directions. I messed up because there’s a typo in my book: be sure to add honey AFTER you’ve heated the mixture.

The goal is to create a bit of a syrupy-like consistency. I ignored the book - I couldn’t get it to make the thin honey stick texture. My drops ended up being more of a jolly rancher type consistency, but a bit sticky in the middle.

I also used an ice cube tray to get them shaped! That was pretty fun.

I’m not sure if it’s the humidity in my region, but after a few minutes in your mouth, it got super sticky and fun to play with. They’re really good! Mine were a bit burnt (I’m not good at finding that just right moment to stop the heat) but I can give little tips and help for making them :) the instructions were a wee bit unhelpful.

Also be sure not to get it on the stove. My partner will NOT love the smell.

Recipe from book under the read more!

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Onto my soap box time,

I absolutely 100% believe that Qibli's behavior towards Peril in Escaping Peril is 100% out of character, or at the very least, shouldn't make sense in relation to Qibli's character.

I understand why it works on a narrative level. Escaping Peril is, at its heart, about how ostracizing an abuse victim will lead them to seek out comfort where they can - often times leading them back to their abuser. It's about how kindness breeds kindness. There are a lot of good themes in Escaping Peril (even though I sometimes think it misses a few marks). So ultimately, it makes sense that Qibli is suspicious of her in his analytical way. HOWEVER, I argue that it doesn't make sense.

Mostly because of the fact that, in every situation that the two have been remotely close to each other, Peril has been in some way a savior and hero to him. You could argue that he's very aware of her past and that - even when doing those heroic moments - she was still doing them for selfish gain. Except for one.

When Qibli first meets Peril, it's after she stops the battle between the Outclaws and the SandWing army in The Brightest Night. Sunny has to plead with Peril to interrupt the fight, and it comes at the cost of Peril releasing Scarlet - but at the same time, Thorn makes a point to thank Peril, to refer to her as a saving grace, an angel.

The second time the two are around each other, it's when Peril saves Clay's life during the False Brightest Night. This was of her own accord, and is a stark example of Peril's defining trait: she will do anything for Clay.

The third time, she attempts to save Carnelian and Bigtail. It's tragic, but she tries - unprompted, too.

So it always struck me as a little weird that he was so harsh on her in Escaping Peril. I mean, you could very well argue that her reputation is far more defining than anything else, but Qibli trusts Thorn more than anyone, and Thorn showed nothing but gratitude. I don't know, maybe I more wish that these moments where Peril actually helped were brought up, because almost all of her moments of saving dragons and helping were events that Qibli was around. He could have acted as someone who could have dug deeper into Peril's thoughts, and tried to play the Devil's Advocate.

I mean, it's not major. It may not even really be out of character. I just think some acknowledgement would have been nice from a character who has seen some of the moments where Peril tried to do the right thing.

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

You know what would be great for Arc 9? We get a kittypet protagonist who joins again. It’s Firestar again, it’s a cat who is lulled into the forest with the promise of a great life, of freedom and glory.

And then I want her to TEAR THEM APART. I want her to question everything, to see the holes and flaws in the clans and make everyone uncomfortable because maybe she’s right, but she shouldn’t be right.

I want someone who will do the right thing, regardless of rules. Who questions them and picks them apart to find the right thing to do. Someone who can rise up to be a champion of the clans, saving them from themselves.

It would just be fun. And it could work in the present or as a reboot, too, with a new cast to explore. But even doing it now let’s them try and give Honeyfur a personality and I’m down for that

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Also like, while listening to The New Prophecy again, it's hilarious how much whiplash there is going from A Shadow in RiverClan to Midnight

Feathertail going from somberly like "I accept this challenge" to her coming into the clearing like QQQQQ I got scared so I asked my brother to come with me

Like whether you love or dislike A Shadow in RiverClan, those are two different Feathertails

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Side note, I'm hoping to be able to post more because guess who was properly diagnosed with ADHD!! It's ya girl, Sunnymoon. Oops :3

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

This is totally unrelated to writing, but I am so disappointed to find that Lisa Flanagan only narrated one book in the Warriors series, because it is fantastic. The tone feels write, the characters feel alive. I am superbly picky with narrators for audiobooks, and her version of Bluestar’s Prophecy is amazing. Would recommend giving it a listen, if you need something to game to.

Not knocking Macleod Andrews, but he just doesn’t fit the bill for me. His voices for characters were just an immediate nope oh god I could not do it. Lisa Flanagan did them so well.

[sunmoonkunoichi]

There is genuinely nothing funnier than Brennan trying to make an evil campaign, only for the whole plot be derailed by democratic revolution, the progression of eagle rights, mental health movements and the Power of Friendship (particularly between Maggie and Leiland, who would have hated each other in any other narrative). Escape from Bloodkeep was wholesome in a way Fantasy High never was, because the Villains were high-functioning adults who only wanted the best for their land, while the Bad Kids indiscriminately killed and stole from everyone (extra points for the fact they cut off hands and ate people, whereas the Villains only ever seemed to push people off tall heights). Poor Brennan. He never wins.

[sunmoonkunoichi]

Hey so this might be the late night and caffeine talking but here goes the crazy conspiracy train. Buckle up y’all. So we know that prior to the rise of Molly, his bastard og form was making a deal with a “magic woman” that may or may not have had something to do with his death. Crazy thought, but what if the woman that Lucien was making a deal with is the same woman that resurrected Nott??? Like both of them were resurrected by a “mysterious magic woman” but with major complications? Or I guess Lucien losing his memory was a complication that may have been due to it being one of the first times this experiment was done. Later on, Nott’s transformation was maybe an experiment to see if memories could be retained even if the body was altered. And this could be a reach, but what if these experiments had ties to Lucien’s desire to gain immortality, and that could potentially be done by getting new bodies every time you die?? Or changing to a long-lived race?? Or a more powerful one? We know dunamancy had to do with entropy and time, this could be the Empire’s bastardisation of the Xhorhasian concept of “birth” that comes from the beacons, and a means of gaining soldiers that can perhaps never be killed??

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

I need to do something nicer for my url. Like, I would have preferred just sunnymoon, but nooooo, I was probably six years too late for that one. Maybe creativity will strike me when I least expect it.