#starclan and the dark forest working together is something i always wanted to see because of how interesting it sounds

[riverc1an]

Me:

#warrior cats #this blurb sounds pretty fun and im looking forward to it!! #starclan and the dark forest working together is something i always wanted to see because of how interesting it sounds #i don’t like how ashfur of all cats is the most powerful apparently like how the hell did he have so much power?? #but i do like how everyone alive and dead wants him gone and i love it

[yarrowleef]

Listened to an audio book of River, posting live rambly thoughts below the cut as I went. spoilers of course!

*I think it’s sweet how Rootspring greeted Ivypool aaa

*Ok I am fine with the "change" of doing a trial before you switch clans. but again, this isn't really a change. I talked about before how they are treating this as if there is actually an easy fix to this problem, and there isn’t. Abandoning your family for a rival is always going to upset cats, regardless of the rules. Someone pointed out what if you feel pressured to make a huge decision and then find you don't like living with your mate after all, and for once the random shouting npc has a point (that isn't responded to). That’s always been my biggest problem with the idea of changing clans for a mate. Living in a clan means caring for everyone in that clan, and if your loyalty literally hinges on one cat, what happens if you break up? what happens if that cat dies? Are you going back home? sometimes someone points something like that out, but it still hasn’t been addressed. I hope it will, we will see. I’m sure this new rule will work out and solve everything if the authors decide it will work, but if i were to imagine a world where people act realistically like people, this isnt going to change anything because rules dont stop individuals from feeling hurt. Is your family really not going to shame you for leaving them just because its not illegal?? as if cats have never been upset by things that aren't technically against the rules before?? the only thing it does is prevent starclan from trying to arbitrarily damn you to cat hell for it, i suppose. Well, given their behavior last arc i guess thats reason enough (although afaik no one has ever been dark forested for a cross clan romance before?? so. )

And on the second note, i certainly dont think the other leaders should have ANY say over deposing a different clan leader, why in the world should they? just make your 3/4 vote and head to the moon pool. This actually ties into why I dont like some of the implications of the cross clans rule. Look, if I was a cat living in this world, I absolutely would advocate removing the borders and just have everyone live as one with different clans no different then neighboring villages with rivalries no more serious then school sports rivalries. It’s the only sensible thing with how they set up the world since the clans are barely different. Since they decided to make it a RULE that they HAVE to help each other and make sure every clan is thriving, it makes even less sense to be separate. But I am not a cat living in this world, I am a reader, and I hate that rule and I hate that the clans just annoyingly bicker to solve every problem. I want the clans to be separate. I want them to fight. Constantly using the other clans as consultants for problems removed even more of their individuality. Every problem the past few series is solved the same way. The clans come together as one to face a big problem. Except since you made it a rule that they HAVE to do that, there is no tension or stakes with it anymore. it’s just an obligation. idk. don’t care for it. I don’t think the clans should have to constantly consult each other about their internal problems, we know no issue a clan faces is ever a big deal because they can always rely on their neighbors to help them out of it. No worries, the code says you have to. I don’t think it should be No Big Deal to switch clans. The more you erode the tension between clans the more boring things get. you might say “but we’ve already done plots with clans fighting, this will force them to come up with new plots!” no it won’t, the set up of the world was never the thing preventing warriors from having new interesting plots. I see fics come up with new interesting conflicts between hostile untrusting clans all the time. anyway I feel like i’ve gone off topic at the very start this is supposed to be a book reaction moving on

*I get unreasonably excited every time new warriors are named. I just think names are fun. Myrtlebloom is pretty. Were there people complaining about Bay and Myrtle’s names before?? personally I think they need to incorporate more weird plants. There are so many to choose from.

*Rip all the tortie Flamepaw designs. They are pretty but with such an emphasis on how he doesn’t look at all like Firestar, I expect we’ll see less of them. Don’t let that discourage anyone from trans headcanons though, he is having an identity crisis after all. Though as someone who DOES agonize a lot over whether all my OCs appropriately ‘look’ like their name, Flamepaw is probably the only canon cat who has ever noticed that he does not suit his name. You and so many others my guy.

*OH MY GOD. OH MYASDHJCDJRGFTG I CANNOT BELIEVE. MISTYSTAR JUST KEELED OVER OFF THE HIGH ROCK. THATS HOW SHES GOING OUT????? THAT IS SO FKCING FUNNY. also why are you doing cpr on a cat that is already breathing. girl that is not what cpr is for????

anyway rip to my “Frostpaw does a weekend at bernie’s on Mistystar to the rest of the clan” theory it would have been hilarious

oh Reedwhisker is going to conk his head on a rock and drown on that hunting patrol isn't he. calling it now.

*why does curlfeather feel suspicious? i dont really have a good reason but i do think it would be cool

*I both find Sunbeam very cute and its very funny that she just. is having a nickelodeon teen romcom off in the corner. I hope this cute boy likes me. Uh oh my boss scolded me and me and the bestie and I are having drama :( its so profoundly cheesy, i mean in kind of an endearing way, and also very funny beside frostpaw’s horrible situation. Oh and Flamepaw exists too I guess. y’all need to stop bringing up blood when you KNOW the entire clan is related to firestar, mostly thanks to lionblaze

Also shout out to Sunbeam for actually being nice to Shadowsight

*Dude bro I hope they are implying that Lightleap accidentally murdered Reedwhisker LMAO PLEASE

*I hope “how many cats like ashfur could there be” is foreshadowing somehow. Its probably not. Also Squirrelflight and Bramblestar are arguing again, who could have thunk it (why is it even when the authors make a big deal about how they are A Good Couple Actually, they still never write them getting along outside of emergencies??) I hope Bramblestar being weird again means he is dying, and that short convo with Flamepaw was implying that he is still really damaged from the possession incident. New leaders now pleas

*Flamepaw’s mom angst is the only interesting thing about him. After Alderheart-Rootspring- now him how many times can we do “apprentice who just wants to be good sucks at everything and keeps failing tests :(”

*so that sign was definitely planted. idk side eyeing curlfeather 

*RiverClan is doing really good at keeping secrets. Waltzing into every clans camp like

 literally everyone they talk to after two seconds is like “hm. well something sure is going on there.” 

*Flamepaw you are so annoying holy sh*t <3 however I am very interested in the idea that ThunderClan is traumatized from Ashfur, and I’m glad Bramblestar is actually feeling consequences emotionally. This is the most I’ve been interested in Bramblestar ever. I hope he steps down that'd be interesting

*AJSDWHFEBRGEFSR IS LIGHTLEAP TRYIN TO STEAL HER MAN OH NO THIS TEEN ROMCOM IS HEATING UP oh and Reedwhisker might have been murdered and fallen into hell or something but more importantly, WHO is Sunbeam going to take to the prom now!!!?? 😔

*Lol yeah rip in pieces Reedwhisker. and ok, again, why does Curlfeather feel so suspicious. She’s so insistent that there’s nothing odd about his death, and she was on the patrol. I cannot think of a good reason why she would be suspicious but like??? am i thinking too hard about it?? does she want to be leader or something????? Does she want her daughter to be in charge so she will want to choose her mother as leader?? is that too interesting for them to go for?? I mean, every single RiverClan cat is a blank slate nobody, so any of them could turn out to be sus. I certainly don’t have a leader preference because I don't know any of these people. 

*I actually like how Sunbeam’s concern for the rules was instilled in her from her mother who is carrying major regrets from leaving ShadowClan with the “rules are for losers” bunch. It’s a small moment, but its nice to explore the thought

*Flamepaw does not have a single thought that isn’t whining oh my gooooood I hope he has a villain arc otherwise I want to punt him into a hole

*Wait hang on, are leaders of other clans FORCED to accept new cats?? cause leafstar and harestar just announced it seemingly without even asking the other leaders??? thats??? incredibly weird? I mean they’d be expected to say yes, but it really brings up the question what if the leader or the rest of the clan really doesn’t like a certain cat for whatever reason. Surely a leader isn’t obligated to keep any cat in their clan, what in the world is this rule. I just thought there would be a curtesy conversation or something. It’s not breaking the code to fall in love anymore sure, but thats a whole different matter from “you are forced to accept any strange cat at any time with NO WARNING APPARENTLY??”

Also I am not liking Flamepaw’s “I wonder if I would ever like a cat enough to do that” because I don’t want to deal with him falling for either Frostpaw or Sunbeam and that line was pointed enough to feel like foreshadowing, and he has been nonstop whining about hating ThunderClan. It would be surprising if they DIDN’T make one of their protagonists use this new “rule” though. Also hang on, that was Sunbeam who spoke to him at the last gathering??? you mean...when she was supposed to be still injured and confined to the medicine den?? Which she was complaining about on her next chapter??--OH NO HE’S TALKING TO SUNBEAM WHO IS GREIVING AND IN PRIME CONDITION FOR A REBOUND, NO STOP STOP DONT DO THIS AHHHHHH YOU’RE REALLY GOING TO BRISTLEROOT 2.0 ME?????? STOP TALKING AT ONCE am i rly in a position where I am rooting for the protags not speak to each other?? I wish i didnt have to worry about it devolving into flirting--jfc Flamepaw why did you feel the need to note how you’re relived that she isn’t “fussing over you like a mother”. aaaaaaaaaaaagh this is going exactly in the direction I think it is isn’t it

*Well I think Frostpaw should get to talk to Redscar, that was one of my favorite field guide stories. Also I think RiverClan warriors should start eating each other alive--WAIT OH MY GOD A CURLY FEATHER I am CALLING this is planted somehow no she is so suspicious. oh please let Mothwing talk about what it was that first started her disillusionment with StarClan--fake planted signs. AAAAAHHH omg let Curl-whatsit have a villain arc and then they have to use their new shiny “depose a bad leader” rule. as long as its a GOOD villain arc. I think it would be fun for a cat who loves their parent to be manipulated by them, even if they have good intentions. often with evil parents they are obviously bad and don’t care about their kid ala Tigerstar/Bramble but Curlfeather clearly DOES care about Frostpaw, think of the drama

oh she IS bringing up the moths wing sign!! excellent. Oh wait now Frostpaw is having a real vision. Maybe curlfeather is just a normal cat who is meant to be the normal leader. Boring way to resolve this all if true :/ whatever. 

*I think it is very cute how all the young ShadowClan cats are hyping up Fringewhisker

*OH BOY I hope they name him Flameheart it would be so funny i hope he has a public meltdown over it.

AAAAAAAAAAAH HAHAHhHHHAHAHAHAHA THEY DID IT OH MY GOD.

nevermind,  Nightheart sounds like a name i'd come up with for my elementary school OCs, and i mean that affectionately. I actually like it, even if -heart has become a tad overused. Flamesong would have been a v pretty name, but I get that getting rid of Flame was more important to him (and song doesn't feel like it suits him). Love how him casually thinking about how gorgeous Nightcloud is set up this lmao.

*ok Mothwings suspicions are making me feel validated in my "Curlfeather is sus" vibes. Shes probably gonna make Duskfur deputy right?

i desperately desperately want Curlfeather to become a villain who murdered Reedwhisker. It will be fun. but then why did Frostpaw have the vision--is what I would ask if i didn’t know that starclan wasn't a bunch of wishy washy weirdos. Remember when Spottedleaf told Leafpool to “follow her heart” which obviously implied she should go with crowfeather, and then later she was like “noooo thats not what i meant, even though I absolutely let you believe that.” i’d buy that they’d pull some nonsense and say that feather storm was actually a sign of chaos and doom......but then we'll have to have yet another question of "why would starclan give them 9 lives after that"

*oh. well nevermind all that, Curlfeather just got eaten by random dogs. rip wild villain arc, i hardly knew you. what does "trust no cat" mean. i mean reedwhisker definitely had cat claw marks on him yes? like. she surely knew SOMETHING

Ah I see so that dream was actually a warning about how curlfeather was going to get exploded by dogs. You ever see that video of a bird that got hit with a baseball and it exploded into a cloud of feathers? like that. Very nice StarClan, thank u for your helpful wisdom as always

*what do you mean you found her body and brought it back???

it sure is nice of the dogs in this series to just kind of lightly chew on the bodies they catch and never like. you know. eat it?? someone must have informed them of the pg-13 rating they have to abide by.

* I thought Frostpaw cuddling with her siblings was very cute!!! but that was maybe the second time they had been mentioned that book? i almost forgot they existed entirely before they came into her den in that scene. Wish we got to know who they are. maybe next book ig

All in all not the most eventful book, but first books are usually just a lot of slow set up. Frostpaw was the only one who felt like she had...idk a real plot with stakes going on, and then you have these other two that are just having fairly inconsequential teen drama. I of course really like character internal conflicts and don't need interesting plots to be all doom and life-or-death situations, but unfortunately Flamepaw was very annoying and Sunbeam...just didn’t have much going on.  Nightheart at least kind of had a conclusion to his little “conflict.” Sunbeam didn’t have any I don’t think, hers was probably the least eventful.

#yarrow speaks #a starless clan #asc #a starless clan river #asc river #river spoilers #a starless clan spoilers #asc spoilers #this arcs very vague titles are gonna be hard to search for huh #wc criticisms

[malkumtend]

I Like Your Laugh - A SquirrelCrow AU - Chapter 23.

Crowpaw hadn’t slept.

He wished it was because of the dusty stink of the rabbit warren his clan had been forced into, or the scream of the monsters outside, far away yet never quiet, or the constant growling and parched coughs of his clanmates that carried on throughout the night like a predator’s call.

But it wasn’t anything like that.

It was the never-changing grind in Crowpaw’s chest. Pounding. Stinging. Unrelenting.

All night he’d stirred restlessly as the nightmare of reality picked at his dreams like ravens at fresh kill. It could have been about anything, the failure of the clan meeting, the growing desperation it was clear Windclan was facing, the knowledge that with every passing second the forest was becoming barren of the prey and shelter they needed.

But it wasn’t anything logical.

Instead, the searing pain that flared over his belly was carried by a wildfire of five words.

She’d be ashamed of you.

Crowpaw breathed in the dead air and tried to imagine that it didn’t burn.

“Crowpaw?”

Stopping himself short, he turned to his mother, feeling suddenly guilty for how sadly she was looking at him.

Crowpaw wanted to give the most simple answer of “Yes?”

But that felt too heavy. His ear flicked instead.

Ashfoot looked down to Crowpaw’s feet, her whiskers shuffling. When Crowpaw followed, he saw his right paw inches from a deep rabbit hole. Crowpaw grumbled to himself, hating his own stupidity. Windclan were taught as kits how to avoid tripping in the many holes that engorged their territory. Angry embarrassment prickled along his neck.

“Sorry, Ashfoot.” He rasped, walking around the trap.

His mother looked at him gently. “Don’t worry, I know it’s hard to recognise much about the moors anymore.”

She wasn’t wrong, but it was still the kindness of a hollow excuse. Somewhere inside, she must have felt ashamed that her own flesh and blood had almost made such a ludicrous mistake. Crowpaw certainly felt the shame curl inside him.

She’d be ashamed of you.

He said nothing more as he followed Ashfoot. There would be nothing to gain from scenting these holes; the prey had long since moved on. There was nothing left here for rabbits or hares.

There was nothing left here for any cat.

But the clan was still starving, and someone needed to feed them. Elders, mothers, and kits needed some cat to search this wasteland for them. Crowpaw had been the first to volunteer.

He couldn’t just sit and do nothing. What point would there be to him if he did that?

Ashfoot slowed her pace to walk beside her son. Crowpaw knew she was staring at him. How exactly she was looking at him he didn’t want to see. “When was the last time you ate anything?” She asked tersely.

Crowpaw’s chest fluttered, “It doesn’t matter.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

It was hard to admit that he was forcing himself to look at his own mother. His tail tried to hide the sink of his ribs along his pelt. “I don’t know.” He lied, “Yesterday morning?” Truthfully, he hadn’t eaten since a few days after he’d left the Tribe’s cave. Even then, he’d been forcing himself. Swallowing just didn’t seem to have a point then. And now he was back, and now that he’d seen every shrinking stomach, the idea of eating felt like something wrong.

His job was to feed those who needed it.

He would survive.

“Then it will do you good to eat when we get back, Crowpaw.” Ashfoot said, “Onewhisker and Tornear caught some prey for the apprentices to share this morning. I’m sure there’ll be spare for you.”

“Give it to another cat. Whitetail and her kits can have it if they saved some for me.”

Ashfoot looked torn between pride and worry. “Crowpaw, I know what you’re trying to do and it’s very noble of you. But we don’t know how long it will be before we move on; you need to make sure you eat as well.”

“If I need to eat, I will. But right now, I don’t.”

Ashfoot’s mew hardened, “And what will happen when you need to and there isn’t any prey? We need to share what we can as a clan! And that clan includes you!”

The clouds overhead didn’t cool the foul winds, they amplified them. Walking toneless underneath the cold grey, Crowpaw felt like an icicle buried in a freezing tomb. When he walked, paws sinking in mud and grot, nothing felt like home. He felt no attachment to this place like he once did. He felt the disorientation of an outsider.

It had been like ever since he’d come back.

“If we don’t know how long we’ll be here for, then it makes more sense for me to make sure the cats who need it the most get fed.”

“It’s not down to you alone, Crowpaw.” Ashfoot said, sighing. “Windclan will do better if you keep your strength up as well. We all work together, like we always do.” She pressed her pelt against Crowpaw’s with an amorous purr.

Crowpaw felt her bony frame and the fur that sagged without weight.

He didn’t like disagreeing with his mother, but she was wrong. It was up to Crowpaw to make sure that cats got the meals they deserved. It was the least he could do after they’d suffered for so long.

“I’m strong enough, Ashfoot.” He said plainly.

Ashfoot gave him a weak smile, “I know you are.” Crowpaw once felt warmed when his mother spoke like this, with the warm drip that stroked her lips and reminded Crowpaw that this powerful Warrior that had raised him and his siblings alone, for the greater part of his life, was his mother.

The mother who despite starving for what must have been a moon, still cared more about the son who had run away.

It was moments like this that made it so much easier for Crowpaw to forget that he was hungry.

Ashfoot pulled away, giving her son a firm look. “But please, you do need to eat Crowpaw. Every cat is hunting, so you mustn’t think you’re being selfish by eating as well.”

“I don’t think that, Ashfoot.” He didn’t. He just knew that someone else deserved it over him.

“You swear?”

“Yes.”

His answer seemed to reassure Ashfoot enough. Good. She could worry about herself now. The same way Crowpaw worried about her.

They travelled over the next two hills and didn’t find anything. Crowpaw could hear the monsters silver claws somewhere, tearing into their home once again effortlessly. He saw his mother shiver, a thin look of dread on her muzzle.

She was no fool.

Crowpaw wished he could say something to ease her thoughts.

But he was no fool either.

“They’re getting closer.” Ashfoot muttered. “It won’t be long until they reach Shadowclan’s territory.”

Crowpaw couldn’t stifle a growl. “Who cares? If they’re going to run away like frightened hares, they won’t need it anymore.”

Ashfoot glanced at him briefly, her tail twitching.

Crowpaw knew how it sounded. The cat who had come back talking of prophecies about the clans leaving together, now damning a clan for fleeing certain death. He didn’t care. He saw Blackstar’s unwillingness to negotiate. The tom had made up his mind before he’d even arrived.

“If he wasn’t even going to listen in the first place, he shouldn’t have wasted our time and just made Shadowclan leave.”

Ashfoot stared ahead gravely. Tallstar had reluctantly informed the clan of the opinion of the leader’s and had advised them to be patient for just a bit longer while they and Thunderclan worked to change their minds.

But no cat had the strength for patience.

“Blackstar has always been…” Her words broke off in a quiet hiss.

“Hare-brained?”

“I was going to say insufferable, but sure.” Ashfoot admitted, the slither of a snarl on her lips. It disappeared with a sigh. “But he is still a leader, and hopefully Tallstar can convince him to leave with us.”

Crowpaw spat, “Nothing would convince that fox-heart of anything!”

“If the monsters make their way through his territory, he may soon be thinking differently.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.”

Ashfoot nodded silently, lifting her nose to taste the air again. “I wouldn’t either. But Tallstar wants all the clans to leave together, and it’s our duty to stand by his wishes until he thinks differently.” A bitter mew muffled out of the molly. “No matter how long that may be.”

Anger. Crowpaw was accustomed to the feeling. For a long, long time, he’d taken a twisted comfort from it. Anger had pushed him on, made him stronger, chased away enemies. Anger had been a red sky that kept him ready for the battle of this forest.

But now, that anger just tasted like bile.

“Yeah.” Crowpaw muttered bitterly. “Well, maybe we don’t need them if they’re going to make us wait like this.”

Ashfoot whipped her tail pointedly, a knowing frown on her muzzle. “Well, at the very least I know you’ve been listening to your mentor.”

Crowpaw cringed. Mudclaw’s stern face froze over a dark corner of his mind. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” Ashfoot asked, “Crowpaw, you’re the one who told Tallstar about the prophecy.”

Crowpaw walked on wordlessly. His nose felt full of tight air that stung when he inhaled. She was right. When it all came down to it, it had been Crowpaw’s idea. Not to leave, in his heart he knew that Windclan definitely would have come to that conclusion on their own. But to leave with the other clans.

‘I bet you’re really proud to have that kind of influence.’

The snarl prodded Crowpaw with an accusing reminder. Even if Crowpaw hadn’t meant it, maybe Webfoot had a point. His story had created influence over Tallstar’s decision. It was because of that that his leader was reluctant to leave with just his own clan.

He’d probably be begging them to leave when he was close to his own death.

And as the days went on, and Tallstar grew weaker and weaker, that didn’t seem as much of a nightmare as a certainty.

“I’m sorry.” His apology crossed the stale air, hopefully reaching more cats than just his mother.

Ashfoot’s tail stiffened as it rose in the air. “What for?”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“And keep Starclan’s message from the rest of us? Don’t be mouse-brained!” Her tail whipped his rump, like she did when he was a grouchy little kit moaning about staying in the nursery.  “It’s good you told us, Crowpaw. Now we know what Starclan wants.”

If it was what Starclan wanted, then where were they while the clans argued last night.

“Sometimes I don’t understand you, Crowpaw.” Ashfoot meowed, “Why would you even suggest leaving the clans after what you told us?” Her stare hardened, “Did Mudclaw say something to you?”

‘Remember where your real allies are if the time comes.’

“Not really.” Crowpaw couldn’t make more trouble for his Deputy.

Ashfoot sighed, giving him the look. The look that showed she knew what he was thinking and how he wasn’t being honest. Even now, it made his head drop.

“Well… maybe he’s right? If the clans won’t help us, maybe we should go on our own.”

“Do you really think we could make it on our own?” There was a soft directness there that was open yet judging all the same.

Crowpaw kept quiet. Windclan was weak, he had to admit that, but if no help was going to come whether they swallowed their pride or not, maybe it was best they just did what they could quickly.

“I’m not saying I don’t understand where Mudclaw is coming from. I’m sure he has only Windclan’s best interest in his heart.” Ashfoot smiled, though it looked perfunctory. “But what he needs to remember, as do you.” She mewed, “Is that he is not Windclan’s leader. We don’t need to be raking up old bones at a time like this.”

Crowpaw snorted, “Why not? The other leaders have.”

When Ashfoot looked back at him, Crowpaw suddenly felt tired again. He frowned and made his eyes go low once again, ignoring the discontent, but mostly ignoring the worry that clouded his mother like hail.

The worry he was the cause off.

Here he was again, making problems like he always did.

“Crowpaw…” His mother sounded closer now.

Crowpaw, against his nature, took a brisk step away and let his mouth move, not caring for what words came out. “No! Why should we have to wait because a few leaders can’t see sense?”

“Because that’s how it is.”

It was hard to tell if Ashfoot said that with assurance or reluctance. Perhaps it was resignation.

Like everything was inevitable, no matter what.

“Fox-dung.” Crowpaw muttered. It didn’t have to be that way at all. Blackstar and Leopardstar did what they did because they could, because circumstances had gifted them the luxury of an escape or shelter that the others could not cling too. What did they even know? What had they done while their clans picked at bones for food or sucked on leaves for moisture?

But then, what had Crowpaw done?

He pushed away the dark, nestling into the nest of anger.

He became aware again of his mother’s presence. This time, when she’d pressed their cold pelts beside each other, she used her tail to make sure he didn’t slip away so easily. She kept him by her purring chest, offering a light lick on the back of his head.

She hardly ever did that.

He sighed. Just how terrible did he look?

The comfort, the understanding she offered felt suffocating. She moved so clearly with the honesty of her care. But everything just felt, at best, hollow or, at worst, like a wasp sting swelling up with doubtful venom. For years, his mother’s advice had been like the word of Starclan.

But here, believing at all just felt worthless and empty.

Nothing felt okay anymore.

“I know it’s frustrating for you.” Ashfoot’s voice came down like soft rain, “After everything you’ve been through, I know this isn’t what you thought would happen.”

Crowpaw began to itch all over.

Frustrating for him?

Everything he’d been through.

“But,” Ashfoot had now become close enough that her heartbeat synchronised with his. Her voice was like a morning mist. “Windclan now has a plan for if we decide to leave. That’s because of what you did, Crowpaw. You should be proud of that.”

Crowpaw didn’t say a word as something began to pound again at the back of his head.

“I’m certainly proud of you.”

The fragments of Crowpaw’s meaningless pride began to twist once again.

“You know that, don’t you?” Ashfoot’s questions sounded like a plea in her son’s whirlpool thoughts.

“Yeah, I do.” He just barely formed the stifled grunts into a reply. He did it at first to end the conversation. He did it more to stop the fear from coating his mother’s eyes.

“I might go check if there’s any prey over there.” Crowpaw said, forcing himself to give a courteous press of his tail to his mother’s flank before he walked away.

“Huh?” The fire of a protest built in Ashfoot. “We should hunt together.” Something hurt in her tone.

“The prey’s scattered since the Twolegs came.” As if he had any right to explain that. “I can check one area on my own.”

“But we need to-”

“I’ll see you back at camp.” He said gruffly, steadily pacing away as his mother stared at his back. He pretended not to hear her sigh as she turned to search her own area, the area that covered their border with Thunderclan.

Crowpaw made sure he’d avoid that.

He knew he’d most likely get a scolding later. There wasn’t really a reason why he needed to go on his own. All that stretched in his direction was dead grass and the remnants of bushes, green bodies turning a sickly yellow in the dusty air. He’d find no prey around here, more than likely returning to his disappointed clanmates a failure.

He could only hope Ashfoot had better luck.

He had no choice but to press on, searching yet not truly hunting. It didn’t matter, he realised. The pounding still batted like enemy paws on his neck. He couldn’t escape it. Really, he was more of a fool for imagining that he could.

The tom grit his teeth as his thoughts turned rogue once again. He lifted his sunken eyes to the hill, his neck cracking at the soft movement.

It didn’t make any sense. He knew where his heart had to lie. He knew what side he was on. And he’d made certain to clarify that last night. In the scheme of the stars, of the clans, he’d done no wrong, he’d only followed the paw prints that had guided the clans long before he was born.

So why…

Why did it hurt so much?

Why did the memory of those eyes, once soft, turned furious, make him want to vomit?

There was no reason to be like this. This was how it was meant to be. All that deserved to be on his mind was Windclan’s safety. Anything else was just him wasting time and energy that could be used to actually help some cat.

But try as he might, every thought he made, every move he took, caused a reaction on his body. A pulse in his chest, a tightness in his throat, and that never-ending pounding against his skull. Every second was like a fight.

And it made him tired.

So very very tired.

He shook himself up. What was he thinking? This was no time to be selfish. Windclan needed prey and he had to return with some.

Or why return at all.

Crowpaw whipped his head from side to side, as if the pain in his neck could be removed like a flea.

They didn’t need him.

He began to walk faster, not caring when he stumbled across rabbit holes and tripped through slumps in the hill.

He was just another cat without prey. Like so many others. He was nothing special. He was no help.

“No!” He hissed to whatever monster was making his sight sting. Windclan needed him, they needed all the help they could get. That was his duty. That was his reason to…

Did Windclan need him?

Or did he need Windclan?

Something had begun to buzz in Crowpaw’s ears. But there was nothing to see wherever he looked. Nothing at all.

What Windclan cat thought of the other clans this much?

“No!” Crowpaw yelled into the moors. Any prey for tree-lengths now would surely be scared off.

He was worried about Windclan, that was all. He was worried about his home. It was Windclan where he had been born, it was in Windclan that he had caught his first prey, it was in Windclan where he had struggled and fought fuelled on his determination to be one of their treasured Warriors.

But so had every other Windclan cat.

Nightcloud, Webfoot, even Owlpaw, they had all lived Windclan just like Crowpaw. Their loyalty was just as strong as his. They had watched as their home was destroyed, and they had done everything in their power to keep their clanmates alive and well, to keep Windclan’s spirit alive!

Did he really have the audacity to savour his loyalty as some kind of pride?

Loyalty was just the necessary goal of his existence.

Crowpaw’s legs had begun to tremble. He sniffed the air, his whiskers pathetically seeming to beg in how they wavered in the air like the shaking paws of a kitten. This had to stop, and it had to stop now. What was he even doing? Arguing with himself like this?! What good was he doing, standing in the middle of a prey-less hill, muttering and screaming at nothing?

He wanted to prove himself, didn’t he?

He had to prove himself.

He needed to prove himself.

He was loyal, he knew he was loyal, he’d do anything for Windclan, that was why he’d given up on his fr-

He pressed a paw to his face, exasperated, and didn’t flinch when he felt claws pierce into his fur.

What was he doing? No. They weren’t that anymore. They should have never been that at all. He needed to regret that, forget about everything, if he wanted to carry on, in order to function. They would travel together, but whatever false ties he’d let materialise for too long were cut. He’d seen to that. He’d made it happen.

They hated him. He was sure of that. When they sat beside him last night, there was nothing there but the same countenance as the beginning. That icy silence that should have carried them through the whole journey. Before his leader, Crowpaw had made it clear where he stood.

Last night, associating those faces with their clan had made it so much simpler to push them away into the dark. The grey tom who’s leader had left his own begging for water, the tabby molly who’s clan wanted to hide away in the den of kittypets and Two-legs, and the brown tom who’s leader refused to see sense and stubbornly put his faith in leader’s who’s hearts were already set on their own ambitions.

Yes. It was so much easier when he did that.

And as for his best-

As for Squ-

A-As for that mol-

She’d be ashamed of you.

She must have hated him.

Even in the beginning, she’d never said anything to him with such venom.

Wasn’t that better? No. It was better. It-It needed to- (Please don’t look at me like that. Please. That had been what he’d thought when she hated him)

Why was this happening? She wasn’t any different. Just another cat he’d been forced to complete a task with. She shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. There was no reason he should dwell on her, or for the molly who had (saved his life) died-

He couldn’t let them do this to him. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. (They were gone. He was alone. All alone.) It wasn’t his fault they’d believed they were anything more than rivals. If they’d been truly loyal they would have kept away. (They were good cats. Such amazing cats.) The hills stretched to nowhere as he wandered. Lost. Unwanted. Unneeded. (He missed them. Even now he missed them so much.)

The buzzing in his ears was dark and hungry. It growled fiercely.

‘Focus on their clans’, he begged himself, ‘They’ve left you behind. They don’t care. They never did. It’s time to wake up. If you care so much about this, you shouldn’t be here. Be a Windclan cat, for starclan’s sake, be a Windclan cat!’

The others were the problem. Not him. Shadowclan were cowards. Thunderclan were foolish idealists. Riverclan were stubborn, traitors who refused to believe their own cats! Ignored their cats last wishes.

(She died for her clan and for you. What are you doing?)

Crowpaw stopped running – how had he not realised he’d been running – listening to the buzzing drift as it twisted over the pounding of his heartbeat. Once again, he was nowhere sufficient. The grass was cracked and caked with dirt. The scents of prey mingled in a forgotten symphony, too far to be of any use. Even the berries on some lonely bushes nearby had long since dried up.

It was silent.

Silent enough for him to consider the words.

Consider everything actually.

What was he doing?

He was prey-less, far from his clan, twisting over thoughts he shouldn’t consider. His clan was waiting for his help. They had been waiting for his help ever since he had returned.

And he’d done nothing.

The prey he had caught was shrivelled and meaningless, any cat could have caught it, if he had never been on that patrol no cat would have noticed.

He had told the clans they needed to leave. But when he looked at them, how long would it have taken them to realise that in the first place. Tallstar had believed him so easily, it was more than likely they would have chosen to left even if he had never given them the message.

So… What really had he done that any other cat couldn’t have? What help was he really?

What did Ashfoot have to be proud of?

She’d be ashamed of you.

Crowpaw looked up to the grey sky, waiting for a chance of rain that could wake him from this empty state.

Riverclan.

Leopardstar hadn’t believed their words. But her clan’s territory was safe, for now. And there was no chosen cat who could return and tell them otherwise.

Who’s fault was that?

Windclan didn’t need Crowpaw to leave. Riverclan may have needed Feathertail.

But here they were.

The clans were waiting for Riverclan, who could not be convinced by the words of their trusted Warrior.

Because the wrong cat died.

Starclan had not come. Was that because there was no hope? Or could it be because their plans had been compromised by the loss of a Warrior who had been needed, and in her place had been left with the selfish remains of some mouse-brained apprentice?

Crowpaw’s blue eyes searched for another reason, they peered over grey hills and smoky skies, searching for some reason that he was here, that he was needed, that there was some logical explanation for him not being the one who had been left behind.

But the other thoughts, the buzzing forces, they had made everything so dizzy.

He only came out of if out of sheer luck, when a high, angry cry broke through the clouds and launched itself towards him.

Crowpaw turned his head just in time to see the hawk, yellow claws spread like ten furious vipers, rush through the air as it raced from the sky, its eyes blazing right on the young apprentice.

Crowpaw didn’t have time to crash his teeth together, he barely had time for his heavy eyes to widen, all he had was a pure desire that struck his body like a thousand hot claws along his back. It was the desire to live, the primal instinct to survive.

That gave him enough time to pounce to the side, the scabby flesh of the hawk’s feet just hitting the tip of his tail. It missed. Crowpaw was still alive. He caught himself, twisting on his feet so he facing the predator as it cried out angrily, before slamming its strong wings in the air and taking flight again.

Crowpaw scowled at the beast as it hovered in a taunting circle above him. What was a hawk doing in the moors? They usually rested in high trees! Had it been scared from its shelter because of the Two-legs? He may have sympathised with that idea if the bird wasn’t clear on making him its new taste of prey.

Even as he hissed at the hawk, Crowpaw could not hide how scared he felt. He’d never seen a hawk like this before, not on his own anyway. Its wings were bigger than maybe a whole clan cat, beating the air with enraged strikes, its whole body was bigger than Crowpaw, and its dark talons glistened in the misty air, poised and ready to sink into his flesh.

Crowpaw found himself needing to dodge again, his body rolling hotly over the hill as he zig-zagged down the base, when the bird swept down with the grace of a fish in the water. The apprentice’s heart pounded like the predator’s wings. There was no way he was going to outrun this thing. And there was no where he could hide from it either. Even if he tried to slip into the bushes, they were thin, and the hawk would pass through them like clouds. It cried again, angrier this time as it missed its kill, screeching into the sky as it rose above the hills again.

Its huge head turned in the air to its prey, its eyes full of hunger, and more strangely, hatred. For some reason or not, this creature hated him.

Crowpaw couldn’t look away from the hateful stare, but as the bird’s rage thickened like black clouds, Crowpaw felt his own body tightening, fixing in an arched, frenetic reason.

If he couldn’t run and he couldn’t hide, there wasn’t anything left to do but fight.

Because he realised just what this bird was. He looked at this bird and saw a dozen full bellies that eased his clan for another few days. He saw a delighted mother nursing her kits with a body full of milk. He saw eyes that would find him with reason for once.

This bird was a reason to be here.

So, forgetting the growl and jolt of his own hunger, Crowpaw felt the blood fix his vision, and he stiffened to survive.

He would kill this bird. He would kill it to show that he was here and he deserved to be.

He watched the bird carefully, a voice digging patience into him, if he rushed into this there was a good chance this could easily go wrong. He needed to find the right moment and take it. A savage thrill had swelled in his stomach and let his anger and terror merge into a powerful shock along his back.

He had never killed anything this big before. But that didn’t matter. It would be done.

The hawk’s fox-like eyes gleamed, it thrust its wings down with the power of a dog’s jaws before it dove once more. Its beak, as thick as a kits head and strong enough to crush one, snapping open to scream.

His breath held captive in his chest, Crowpaw didn’t look away. He needed to watch if he was going to figure this out or not. He needed to get close. The bird was descending quickly, its massive wings solidly held to their furthest reach as they sliced the open air. Crowpaw waited a heartbeat more, just enough for the hawk to curl its talons from its scaly legs, before he launched himself forward on his belly, giving a kick of his paws to the sky as he felt the powerful friction of air above his back. Even as it missed him, Crowpaw knew that this thing was strong.

One of his back paws hit the tail end of the bird, just where it could hit flesh, but Crowpaw had already rolled away by the time the bird to curl its body around. It screeched, pained and angry, but returned to the sky, its tail feather shaking off the blow as well as it could.

Crowpaw snarled at it as it flapped overhead, if it hadn’t been mad before it was now. Crowpaw hoped it was like a cat, where he knew anger made you reckless. It seemed to fly higher than before, soaring in a dart to where the clouds seemed to just touch its head. But even then, Crowpaw could see them burning down at him.

The dark tom licked his lips and let out a hot angry breath.

When the bird spread its talons, it left its chest and throat open. He had a chance, a small chance, but if he could avoid those talons, he just needed to know where to bite.

And he didn’t have long to figure that out.

The bird was coming down again. Feather’s ruffled in complete rage. It was hurt and resentful, and it desperately wanted revenge. It wasn’t going to wait it seemed. It came down like lightning. Crowpaw watched it dart towards him, its wings curved in prepared tension. Their eyes locked, a burst of rage and hunger connecting them. Crowpaw didn’t mutter a prayer as he began to sprint his way towards the bird. With a frustrated yell, the Hawk flapped to position itself. But no prey had actually ran at it before. Adjusting itself to this new concept, the bird chose to flick its talons out once again. All it needed to do was dig those talons into Crowpaw’s soft belly, and it would be over.

Letting a numb sensation compel him from fury or fright, Crowpaw leapt as soon as the birds talons were a tail-length away.

It was an ugly collision.

The talons just slipped on his back, but Crowpaw’s whole weight stormed into the soft meat of the Hawk’s chest, breaking its grip on him. Crowpaw screwed his eyes closed, grunting as two heavy wings slammed onto his face. The pain was heavy and thick, but Crowpaw slipped through it until his teeth were lodged into the bird’s chest.

The creatures, fighting to be predator or prey, landed with Crowpaw’s jaws wrenching with delirious speed on the bird’s stomach. Feathers and blood were thrown into the air as Crowpaw ripped and ripped. The Hawk let out a sound it had never made, one of real horror, as its beating wings became more and more desperate. It twisted, its feet scratching wherever it could to find the dark-fur of its opponent. Cold pain seared Crowpaw’s flank, but he only bit down again, higher this time, his tail curling when he tasted hot blood.

How long had it been since he’d tasted blood?

Immediately, Crowpaw felt his muscles tense, his claws sprang out to pin the frantic wings, tearing down the fragile skin, fracturing ligament and muscle with every punching scratch. The bird screamed and bit at Crowpaw’s scruff, but the cat launched five claws over its face and it let go with a true cry of real, blood-curdling fear.

Crowpaw realised with savage electricity, that he was winning.

The hawk, realising far too late it had misjudged this battle, changed tactics. Its talons didn’t claw now, they tried to grip the cat, furiously attempting to drag Crowpaw off before he found its throat. It rocked frantically to loosen the cat from its blood soaking feathers. But Crowpaw knew this opportunity would never come again. He wasn’t going to let go, even if those talons found his own throat.

The only time Crowpaw did let go was when the hawk stopped shaking and instead used its damaged wings to roll over to its belly. Its large wings already straightening for takeoff. But Crowpaw was quick, and this bird had made a massive mistake in taking its talons from Crowpaw. As soon as he’d slid onto its back, Crowpaw was safe from the claws and beak. It was almost over.

Crowpaw groaned and bit down on its neck, where the head had to be connected to the spine. The hawk screamed, its body convulsing and large eyes bursting in pure agony. Blood coated Crowpaw’s tongue once more, and just to be safe, he dug his claws right into the base of the hawk’s wings, holding it down. Whether they were too damaged or weak, they slowly began to wither in their rabid twitches for survival.

Crowpaw, deep in his chest, realised that this was over.

But stubbornly the hawk continued to fight, dragging itself along with its weak talons or broken wings, even as Crowpaw bit down hard on its neck, hard enough to hear something crack. The tom let out a hiss as the hawk cried mournfully but continued to struggle. This wasn’t meant to happen. It should have been dead by now.

But it didn’t. Its body twitched along, its head craning out to a bush just ahead of them both, probably seeking the dark safety even as its back cracked behind it.

It was impressive but horrible all the same. Crowpaw bit on the neck again, horrified by how it clung to life despite its little hope. This wasn’t how hunting was meant to be. They hunted to be quick, they hunted to survive, this didn’t feel like hunting, this felt like slaughter.

But Windclan needed to eat all the same.

‘Die.’ Crowpaw thought as he bit and tore and shook. ‘Just die already.’

The hawk responded with a series of sounds that may have been the caw of a bird, but not one that any bird, any creature should make. It hissed and bubbled in the bird’s throat. Crowpaw felt it. For the love of Starclan, he felt it rattle out of the shivering beak. It eyes, glazing quicker and quicker, were wide but slow, blinking in jittering convulsions, still calling for the safety of the bush.

It wanted to live

Crowpaw wanted to scream.

With a needing, breaking yell, Crowpaw slid his claws over the Hawk’s thin, torn throat and ripped back.

With a rasping, wordless gasp that sounded too much like a mewling kit for Crowpaw’s liking, the hawk’s struggles relaxed, and its tattered head fell down stiffly onto the grass.

Blood slowly oozed out onto the shadow of the hill. The dirt did not soak it up, denying the gore, letting it flow down into a dark slide in the grass.

Crowpaw fought for his own breath as he stood triumphantly above his prey.

It should have been triumph anyway.

Didn’t feel like it.

He shook his head. That couldn’t start up now. Yes, it had been messy. But it was done. And prey was prey.

This was actually the largest prey he’d ever caught, this was a meal that would last Windclan for days, this was his chance of doing some real good for his clan, this was his reason for standing here.

Something he’d done mattered.

He looked over his own wounds, the wings had battered his head until it was shaking, and there were some deep gash marks along his flank that he needed to clean before they got infected. But other than that, he was remarkably well.

Much better than the blood-soaked, torn apart, ruin under his paws.

But more than ever, he was alive.

Tired, battered, and hungry, but alive.

So hungry.

Crowpaw’s tongue touched the blood on his lips, he couldn’t suppress a shiver. It tasted good. Good enough that his throat began to hurt at the idea of not tasting it again. He looked down at the hawk, thinking. It was a huge catch. If he took one bite, a small one, enough for him to get by, he could get the rest back to Windclan soon.

His joints ached, and his head spun like crazy. He needed to eat, even just a little.

Crowpaw gave the hawk a wane look. Just one tear off the wing. That would be enough for him.

Slowly, his own stomach cleanching, Crowpaw placed his teeth over the soft meat of the wing. He shivered as the sweet blood permeated his senses.

But then his ears twitched.

Almost angry at his meal, his victory, being disturbed, Crowpaw growled. But then he stopped and really listened. Something was letting out high, bristling squeaks. They cracked into the air pathetically, rustling the air with its light whimpers. Then the sound rustled as it doubled, then tripled, and then Crowpaw was sure he heard a symphony of tiny whelping ring around him.

They were coming from the bush.

The hawk’s head still stared at it lifelessly, but a longing melancholy still quivered in the draining colour of its eyes.

Crowpaw stared as the squeaking continued. The back of his head began to hurt again. His whole body felt cold.

With step after reluctant step, Crowpaw approached the bush, becoming more and more aware of the buzzing that came back to his ears.

He pressed his head in. Four pairs of black, terrified eyes glinted wetly back at him. The chicks, from the looks of their thin tufts of feathers, or the way they held their gaping mouths at him in either fright or hunger, could not have been born more than a day or two ago. They huddled together, some peeping helplessly at him under the darkness of their scrambled, hastily put together nest, the others just stared at him. Stared enough to hurt.

It took only a second for the desperation of the hawk to sink in.

With blank eyes, Crowpaw turned back to the hawk that had died to protect what it loved, the blood had now begun to pool around its head.

Another bloody body, another creature that had sacrificed itself to protect what it loved, flashed over Crowpaw’s eyes.

Once she had, everything seemed so much clearer to Crowpaw.

And he didn’t fight the hungry buzzing in his mind, rumbling, screaming, blaming. It stung, it ached, it swelled.

It reminded.

Sacrifice.

A sacrifice was why Riverclan had no cat to believe, a sacrifice was why the journey was tainted, a sacrifice was why the clans may not survive, a sacrifice was why Windclan was suffering, a sacrifice was why his clan could die.

A sacrifice was why his friends, the only one’s he’d ever really had, hated him.

He’d driven them away because he wanted, in his selfish need for reason, to be seen as important for his clan.

But the truth was, Windclan didn’t need him. They would live or die without him. They always would have. All he’d done returning, robbing Riverclan of a reason to leave, was further the dark towards his home’s destruction.

It was all his fault.

This was all he was.

Letting the buzzing attack his mind, and drown out the chicks’ cries for a mother that would never return, Crowpaw began to drag the hawk back. If this was the only good he could ever do, he should at least do it with some effort of care.

But was it good?

How tough could this hawk have been if an apprentice could kill it? It was weak and hungry, that was all. Any real warrior could do it. They probably could have brought themselves to catch the extra prey as well.

But those chicks’ had such familiar eyes.

The eyes of the weak, saved by the strong.

But what did it matter?

It was over now. Whether they were caught by him, or another cat, or a fox, or even if nothing came for them. Their deaths had been set in the dirt.

That was the cruelty of life. The reality that Crowpaw would do better to accept.

It didn’t matter how much creatures tried to fight nature.

Things that were meant to die? They always did. Someway or other.

Crowpaw would make sure of that.

With this realisation, with empty eyes and passing, silent breath, Crowpaw almost felt a shameful peace that made him blink away the tears so easily.

But he was unfit for peace, so he let the buzzing convince him into feeling nothing.

...

#Crowfeather #squirrelcrow #crowsquirrel #I like your laugh #ashfoot #Warrior Cats #Warriors #warriors au #warriors fic #the new prophecy #windclan #squirrelflight

[transparenthologramrebel]

Part two of chapter two electric boogaloo

The three returned to camp shortly before sundown. The camp was bathed in a soft warm fading red color. The camp usually looked beautiful at this time of day, yet the destruction made it look ominous, chaotic, and empty. Hanging from Hollyleaf’s jaws was a squirrel and Lionblaze carried two voles. 

“Lionblaze, Hollyleaf you’re back!” Cinderheart called trotting over to the trio.

“I’m heading to the medicine den. Leafpool and I need to sort these herbs out before it gets too dark.” Jayfeather informed his siblings, walking away. Lionblaze dropped his kills and head bundted  Cinderheart, who reciprocated. 

“I brought you back freshkill, just like I promised,” Lionblaze purred. Hollyleaf stood behind her brother and wanted to claw his fur off. How could he be thinking about mates at a time like this? Even more so with Cinderheart, her best friend? Cinderheart purred, picking up one of the voles.

“Thank you! Would you like to eat with us, Hollyleaf?” She asked. Hollyleaf shook her head dropping her squirrel. 

“No, thank you, I should see if Brambleclaw needs me to do anything.” she said quickly, picking up her squirrel trotting away. The last thing she wanted to do right now was be around her brother and Cinderheart. 

“They have all the right to be happy together. I just wish it wasn’t right now. I need them both right now…” Hollyleaf thought to herself as she left her squirrel on the new freshkill pile. She didn’t have an appetite right now. “I wonder how long it will be till she starts sleeping in his nest?” That thought made her feel hollow and alone. Cinderheart and Hollyleaf had been best friends since apprentice hood. They had always shared a nest, even now. The thought of Cinderheart no longer being next to her made her feel even more alone than her current problems already did. Hollyleaf looked over to the warriors den. Cinderheart and Foxpaw had done a lot of good work already. Half of the den had been repaired, but there were still large blatant holes in the den’s exterior. Ashfur slinked over to the den from the nursery having finished repairing one of the sides. Hollyleaf caught his gaze and the two stared each other down from across the camp. Ashfur’s eyes were dark, threatening. Hollyleaf flexed her claws, staring him down unblinking with her own ferocity.

“I will stop you. I’ll save Thunderclan and the warrior code, by shutting your jaws. That is my promise to you Ashfur.” Hollyleaf thought, her pelt quivering with hatred. Ashfur narrowed his eyes and slipped into the warrior's den. Thought of having to share a den with him tonight made Hollyleaf’s fur crawl as if she were covered in fleas.  She turned away from the warrior's den. 

Hollyleaf’s paws lead her to the medicine cat den. She stuck her head inside to see Leafpool and Jayfeather busy sorting the herbs they had collected. Leafpool turned her head, looking at Hollyleaf over her shoulder.

“Hollyleaf are you alright? Do you need something?” Leafpool asked, walking over. Hollyleaf purred, happy to see Leafpool. While her apprenticeship with Leafpool had been short, the two had remained close. Hollyleaf trusted and respected Leafpool greatly, even if they were no longer kin. 

“I...I don’t feel safe in Warriors den. I watched it burn the other night. Being inside makes me feel claustrophobic.” Hollyleaf lied. Leafpool purred and licked her head.

“You can stay here tonight and I can give you poppy seeds to help you sleep. Though I’m afraid we don’t have much moss,” Leafpool explained, resting her tail on her shoulder. Hollyleaf felt her body relax. 

“Thank you Leafpool.”

“Jayfeather can you finish sorting the herbs while I get the extra moss?” Jayfeather let out an annoyed growl.

“Sure, just leave me here to sort it out all on my own!” he grumbled. Hollyleaf blinked at her brother sympathetically. 

“Here let me help you,” Hollyleaf stepped forward to help only to have Jayfeather tail slap her. 

“No, you’ll just ruin the organization,” he hissed softly, focusing on snapping leaves off of a stem. Hollyleaf wanted to snap at her brother, yet she couldn’t bring herself to. Jayfeather’s pelt was disheveled, his ears were flicking nervously while his tail thumped on the medicine den ground. He was stressed, no doubt about their conversation earlier in the day. He was also most likely worried about confronting Ashfur.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Hollyleaf said, as her tail brushed him in comfort. Jayfeather didn’t respond. 

Leafpool quickly returned with the moss. As she and Hollyleaf began to knead it into a nest for her, Hollyleaf glimpsed Cinderheart and LionBlaze returning to the Warrior’s den together. Her ears drooped. 

“You’re worried aren’t you?” Leafpool’s voice pulled Hollyleaf out of her emotions.

“What?”

“You’re worried about being left behind if Lionblaze and Cinderheart become mates,” Leafpool looked at Hollyleaf, her amber eyes soft with sympathy. “I know how that feels. When Squirrelflight started courting Brambleclaw and Ashfur I felt the same way. It’s the loneliest feeling in the world, since you feel like you no longer have their shoulder to lean on. Don’t worry Hollyleaf, Cinderheart will always be there for you and Lionblaze, nothing will come between you three.” Leafpool pressed her muzzle to Hollyleaf with a purr and licked her behind the ear. 

“Thank you for your words of reassurance.” Hollyleaf purred, yet she did not feel like her fears were soothed.  Leafpool nodded.

“Besides I’m your kin. I’ll always be there to help you.”

“But you’re not my kin!” The sad thought ripped through Hollyleaf and her chest felt hollow. Unable to answer she merely nodded and Leafpool left. 

The sun had disappeared behind the horizon before too long darkening the camp. Hollyleaf laid on her moss nest unable to sleep. Leafpool had offered once again to give her poppy seeds before she had gone to sleep, but Hollyleaf refused. 

“Move over,” Jayfeather instructed, carrying his own bundle of moss over to his sister. Hollyleaf moved over and watched as Jayfeather stamped the moss down. He curled up next to his sister, laying his head on his paws. His sightless eyes gazed out of the den. 

“You didn’t want to be around Ashfur?” he questioned. Hollyleaf nodded and licked her brother's head, grateful for his presence. 

“I thought so, don’t worry I’ll stop him tonight.” Jayfeather’s tail thumped on the ground, clearly restless. 

“If you don��t I will.” Hollyleaf growled, her teeth gritted in determination. 

“You won’t kill him. I won’t let you. We’ll find another way.” Jayfeather lifted his head, his eyes narrowed. Hollyleaf stared down at her paws, unable to meet his gaze.

“I won’t...I was speaking out of anger... We have to protect Thunderclan and the warrior code.”

“I know, we will find a way. He will face the consequences of his actions...Starclan will make sure of it.”

“I hope you’re right Jayfeather…” Hollyleaf muttered, unconvinced. She rolled over, turning her back to her brother. Hollyleaf closed her eyes, drifting off into unfeeling blackness. 

When Hollyleaf opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the medicine den. She layed in a flower covered meadow. The air was sweet and warm like in greenleaf. There was a brilliant moon above shining, bathing the meadow in a soft warm yellow light. Behind Hollyleaf was a forest which Hollyleaf could tell was rich with prey, as she heard mice scuttering around in the undergrowth.  

“Is this starclan?” Hollyleaf wondered out loud. 

“You finally figured it out? Good now, get up! I don’t have all day!” a scruffy gray cat with yellow eyes and a yellow fang hissed. Hollyleaf immediately leapt to her paws. 

“Oh I’m sorry...you’re Yellowfang aren’t you! Firestar told me and my brothers stories about you!” Yellowfang purred. 

“Good to know that Firestar still talks about me. Come, follow me, we need to talk,” Yellowfang explained, waving her tail. Hollyleaf didn’t hesitate, she trotted after the scruffy gray cat into the woods.

“Has Starclan figured out a way to stop Ashfur?” Hollyleaf asked. Yellowfang said nothing as they walked.

“I have come with a warning and a story.” she rasped. Hollyleaf flicked her ears in confusion, but said nothing.

“Long ago I was a medicine cat and I was in love with our clan’s leader Raggedstar. I broke the warrior code and had his kits. I paid highly for my betrayal and choices. I lost my two daughters and my only son turned into a monster. My son Brokenstar took over shadowclan and forced kits who were far too young to be apprentices. I was then exiled from my clan and kin. Despite my actions I found refuge with Thunderclan, there I found new kin if we weren’t related by blood. In the end my final punishment was that I was forced to kill my son when he threatened my new home and kin,” Yellowfang’s voice was weary as she told her story, Hollyleaf hanging onto every word. 

The two cats passed into a new part of the forest. The trees were shades of red, golden and brown like during leaf fall. Golden leaves fell softly around Hollyleaf brushing against her pelt. Yellowfang came to a stop, sitting under a wild gnarled oak tree. 

“Blood isn’t everything Hollyleaf, neither is the code.” Yellowfang’s flattened face was stern. Her yellow eyes were burning fiercely. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Hollyleaf asked, sitting down and wrapping her fluffy tail around her paws. 

“Because you hold the most dangerous power of all. I hope when the time comes you will use it wisely.”

“I have power? So I am one of the three!” Hollyleaf cried. Her heart swelled, feeling like it would burst from her chest. “We are the three then! Wait, who are our parents?” Yellowfang blinked and over head a murder of crows flew by. The crows were screaming and fighting. They clawed at each other with their talons, ripping both feathers and flesh from one another. Black crow feathers spotted with blood drifted softly down from the sky landing at Hollyleaf’s paws. 

“The time for secrets is over. I hope you take what I have said to heart and do the right thing. Power is dangerous...if you are not able to control it, it will destroy you and the cats you love.” Yellowfang rose from the ground, turning and beginning to walk away. 

“Yellowfang wait! What do you mean!” Hollyleaf cried running after her. Suddenly the wind picked up sending the fallen leaves into a frenzy. Hollyleaf slowed, struggling to see in front of her. “Yellowfang come back!” She called, running blindly into the whirlwind. The wind died as quickly as it began and when Hollyleaf could finally see she was somewhere new. It clearly wasn’t Starclan. The air was cold and damp. The trees were tall, wild, dark gray and dead. The stench of rotten dying wood filled Hollyleaf’s nose. 

“Where am I?” Hollyleaf wondered. Suddenly Lionblaze’s voice cut through Hollyleaf’s thoughts. 

“Liar!” Lionblaze’s yowl echoed through the trees. Hollyleaf’s eyes widened and she took off through the trees. She fought her urge to call out for him, even as the sound of fighting got closer. If she was going to be able to help him she would possibly need the element of surprise. Hollyleaf launched herself off a large boulder and scrambled up a ridge side to where she heard her brother’s voice the loudest. Standing up on the ridge, she gazed down to see her brother circling a large tabby tom with a scar over his nose and torn ears. 

“It can’t be, is that Tigerstar? Where is this place!?” Hollyleaf felt terror fill her chest, as she began to realize the danger she and Lionblaze were in. 

“What’s wrong, Lionblaze? You don’t want to see your kin? Perhaps we could do some battle training like we used to.” Tigerstar growled in a maliciously teasing tone. Lionblaze lashed his tail, his claws out.

“You’re not my kin, you never were! I’m also not your apprentice anymore, I should never have been here,” Lionblaze hissed. Tigerstar stalked closer, his lips curled in an amused snarl.

“Blood isn’t everything, besides you would have never made it without me! Without me you would still be an unmotivated apprentice, chasing after windclan females,” Tigerstar snarled. 

Lionblaze let out a war caterwaul, launching himself at Tigerstar. The two toms began fighting viciously. Lionblaze gripped Tigerstar with his paws, his claws sinking deep into his shoulders. Tigerstar hissed and gripped Lionblaze back, he ran his claws down his back as the two tom’s hit the ground. Lionblaze screeched in agony and bit down onto Tigerstar’s neck, he began shaking and violently tearing into the tabby’s flesh. Tigerstar yowled, kicking desperately to get Lionblaze away, however he hung on. Lionblaze began to kick wildly at the tabby’s stomach, clawing at the soft underbelly. This seemed to give Tigerstar his second wind, in a panic, Tigerstar finally kicked the young warrior off and away from him. Lionblaze hit the ground, but quickly rebounded, scratching violently at Tigerstar's face. Tigerstar turned on his heels and went to kick Lionblaze away. Lionblaze jumped away, lunging and grasping onto the tabby’s back. Lionblaze slammed Tigerstar onto the ground, he sank his teeth into his scruff and tore into it.

Hollyleaf stood frozen in shock at her brother’s brutality. Her blood ran cold as Tigerstar let out a bone chilling scream of agony.

“Lionblaze’s power...he can’t be defeated in battle.” Hollyleaf’s mind echoed.

 Finally Lionblaze let go, his muzzle dripping with blood.

“Do it, kill me.” Tigerstar hissed.

“No, you’re already dead.” Lionblaze hissed. 

Unable to stomach anymore, or face her brother Hollyleaf turned on her heels. She took off down the ridge desperate to escape the scene and the forest. As she ran, her paws caught a mess of tree roots, sending her flying. Hollyleaf slammed into the ground and continued tumbling. Suddenly the ground underneath her, sending her flying down into the darkness of a large badger hole. Hollyleaf let out a yowl in fear as darkness consumed her vision.  

#warriors ashfur #warrior au #warriors squirrelflight #hollyleaf #jayfeather #Lionblaze #Leafpool #brambleclaw #tigerstar #ashfur #squrrielflight

[chrenq]

the tragedy of hawkfrost's character

hey! i personally think it's pretty funny that my first ever tumblr textpost is about hawkfrost of all cats but hey, i've had this analysis on my mind for a while now so i thought i'd share. me spending hours on warriors tumblr was all building up to this moment lmao

i will stress though!! i am not justifying hawkfrost's actions and manipulative tactics. now that that's clear.. to talk about hawkfrost, i have to compare him to his parallel first; his brother, brambleclaw. so firstly, let's review- what's the basis of hawkfrost and brambleclaw's parallels? what is their dynamic and story together boiled down the the most BASIC explanation possible? and why does this make hawkfrost's tale inherently sadder than the " dark expectations that he breaks free of, becomes a hero " story of brambleclaw? they are parallels because they have the same tyrannous, murderous cat for a father, but brambleclaw is the one to turn away from the darkness and walk back to the light. his brother hawkfrost, on the other hand, fails to do so, and as any ambitious brown tabby of the warriors universe is, is banished to the dark forest for his unforgivable crimes against the clans.

but look at it this way; there was SO much wasted potential. SO MUCH. and today i'm here to explain why so sit back and grab your popcorn because this is gonna be a long one-- why is brambleclaw able to return to the " good side " anyway? it's because of the positive influences in his life. his affectionate and protective ( and CRIMINALLY underrated ) mother goldenflower, the stubborn but passionate squirrelflight, and brambleclaw's brutally honest yet fiercely caring sister tawnypelt. and let's not forget firestar as well, his mentor and the one who influences him the most in his youth; it was, after all, firestar that ended up mentoring bramblepaw to be a good and righteous cat despite his dark bloodline. it's pretty poetic in itself, how firestar himself starts off mistrusting of bramblekit but ends up being the greatest positive influence in his life, but then again, i'm getting off track, so back to my main point.

what is brambleclaw thinking as he refuses his father and hawkfrost's wishes to murder firestar? wasn't it something around the lines of " i can't do this, this is my leader, my former mentor, and i care about him because he cared and cares about me? " ultimately it's his respect and admiration for the cat who tried to see the best in him that turns him around in the face of disaster. but what about hawkfrost? ( this is mostly inference based on heavy evidences as i have yet to read the mangas that involve his character more heavily. i have read mothwing's secret, though, so i will be referencing that. ) hawkfrost has, to be pretty honest, no one. he joins riverclan as a kit with his mother and sister, and later on sasha leaves. his mother isn't there to watch him or his sister grow. it's just him and mothwing; in a clan of cats living with a culture completely different from how they lived as loners, he is new to all this. and then again, i can't exactly say the clans ever liked outsiders all that much. he and his sister are outcasts despite technically being riverclan cats. hell, brambleclaw even brings this up during an argument with hawkfrost ( before they find out they're related, mind you ) saying hawkfrost might feel differently about the matter of territory and borders and thunderclan being driven out " if he were truly clanborn. " ouch. hawkfrost has mistyfoot, a kind and responsible mentor from what we know of her character, but it's still stressed in mothwing's novella that he still felt like an outcast / not good enough. this leads him to be furious when mothwing wants to become a medicine cat; he tells her that if she fails, starclan knows what the clans would do with a cat who wasn't committed enough to being a warrior and wasn't good enough to be a medicine cat. he is terrified, perhaps, of losing all they have worked for; he makes up for being non clanborn by being vicious, and working tirelessly, soon establishing himself as the strongest riverclan warrior. but emotionally, again i state, he has nobody. he was twisted his relationship with his sister, the only family he has, into a mangled mess of lies and deceit and mistrust. and that's on him. it also explains why he runs to tigerstar with so much eagerness. this is the father he never got to meet, the father he always admired but never knew. and tigerstar is giving him exactly what he craves; attention and recognition. like i said, hawkfrost is a terrible cat but in dawn, he and brambleclaw have a conversation that ends with brambleclaw: " i learned more from firestar than i ever did from tigerstar. " hawkfrost: " but still, tigerstar knew you. he never even set eyes on me. " now, asshole or not, tell me that isn't at least a little tragic. all hawkfrost's life he has had to work and fight for attention and appreciation, and here is the father he always longed for, praising him in the dark forest. in the tigerstar and sasha mangas, tigerstar also promises he loves his kits ( moth and hawk ) and will watch over them always. so here it is. the only " good " influence in hawkfrost's life? the cruel, heartless monster that is his father. finally a cat loves him just for being there, but it's a murderer he never knew in life. there isn't ever a scene where brambleclaw realises he's stupid for training with vengeful daddy tigerstar in cat hell. he never snaps out of it til' the " blood will spill blood " scene. he isn't convinced, persuaded- the choice between kin, and found family and friends is forced upon him. and he choose good, obviously, being the cookie cutter character he is. ( smh all my homies hate brambleclaw ) but hawkfrost never had that chance. if they'd talked it out maybe he would've listened and gotten his priorities straight, but they don't talk- they battle their problems out. and hawkfrost dies, with the only " love " he ever experienced for most of his life being that from a manipulative father grooming him into his own failed legacy. TL;DR: brambleclaw gets TLC he doesn't deserve and hawkfrost is left to bleed out

#hawkfrost warriors #hawkfrost #hawkfrost wc #warriors spoilers #warrior cats #warrior cat #riverclan #thunderclan #brambleclaw #brambleclaw sucks btw #i am actually a hawkfrost kin and think too much about this bastard of a cat #but like??? the wasted potential???? #goddamnit erins

[leporellian]

warrior cats rewrite: the darkest hour

finally!

- in the prologue, we are back at the prologue of the first book- smudge and rusty, as kits, being watched over by henry.

- one of them inquisitively asks henry what would they do if they were ever caught up in the war of the stars that happens every few hundred moons. what would happen? where would they go? what would they do?

- know that whatever happens, you were, you are, and you will always be loved, responds henry.

- back in the present. firestar gets his nine lives from redtail, gorseleap, runningwind, swiftpaw, brindleface, speckletail, cinderfur, yellowfang and bluestar

- firestar appoints lionheart as deputy. it’s noted that they feel as though someone is watching the camp

- next day turns out someone IS watching- darkstripe has poisoned willowpelt’s kit, but was stopped at the border by graystripe. darkstripe is furious at sorrelkit bc he views her as a ‘replacement’ for him and gray, but gray views it otherwise. well also find out gray and silver are now amicable exes. darkstripe, badly wounded, leaves

- lostface is officially renamed brightheart as in canon.

- gathering happens, and scourge appears instead of an official riverclan or shadowclan leader- apparently, both now face infighting over who the next leader will be. tawnypaw is drawn towards shadowclan and feels pity for them.

- scourge announces that he wants the forests for bloodclan- supposedly for their safety, but he and fire know that it’s Personal. he announces that he has taken riverclan and shadowclan’s land for bloodclan and will get to work on wind and fire Soon.

- firestar sees the roaring lion in his reflection in the moonlight. he hears a voice- take heed of what you have seen. know what you must be.

- graystripe rushes over later after the gathering and pleads for help. they go over to riverclan and find out that scourge has taken hold of featherpaw, stormpaw, silverstream, leopardfur, mistyfoot, and stonefur. scourge is holding up the latter three bc they worked with tiger, and feather storm and silver because they are crookedstar’s kin and likely candidates to challenge him as they’re familiar with leadership.

- naturally a fight erupts as the 6 try to escape. silverstream is killed fighting to her last breath. stonefur, knowing what he must do, distracts the bloodclan guards so misty and leopard can escape with feather and storm. he manages to take out one of the bloodclan guards but is quickly killed afterwards

- the riverclan cats take shelter in camp. tawnypaw leaves for shadowclan because it is one of the two clans her father’s legacy has not touched and she wants a fresh start.

- we also find out that bloodclan is attacking windclan.

- next day, firestar and scourge agree to meet. scourge gives the clan cats three days to leave or fight him at fourtrees, and expresses his anger at firestar. everyone else is like wait these 2 KNOW each other!?! firestar feels grief at what smudge has become. he also notices darkstripe among bloodclan.

- the clan cats start training- thunderclan and riverclan together and windclan and shadowclan together. firestar realizes scourge’s weakness- he does not know of the strategy and discipline the clan cats have, which he regards with an odd pity.

- eventually, the four clans join together and dub themselves lionclan. leopardfur is tasked with riverclan (the position is originally given to mistyfoot but she declines), having had her Character Arc. flintfang of shadowclan is given leadership duties. tallstar naturally leads windclan.

- the cats choose to have firestar at the front of the battle- both because he knows scourge and the bloodclan cats (his once-weakness has become his greatest asset) and because they begin to realize he is the newest incarnation of the fire that will lead the clans through the future war of starclan.

- the cats leave for fourtrees for the battle. lionheart thinks he will die in the battle.

- firestar gives scourge one last chance to give up and leave in peace. scourge doesn’t. the fight begins

- darkstripe tries to attack firestar, but longtail and graystripe kill him. firestar regards darkstripe with an odd sense of pity, remembering what darkstripe once had been

- lionheart is killed by bone. firestar appoints longtail as deputy.

- it’s noted bloodclan attacks by climbing up trees and launching themselves down

- tallstar loses a couple of lives. it’s mentioned mudclaw fights with tears in his eyes alongside his mother morningflower, and they chant gorsetail’s name over and over. firestar does not see onewhisker but knows onewhisker must be in there somewhere.

- goldenflower is killed saving kits.

- ravenwing is nearly killed when scourge attacks him, but firestar intervenes and takes on scourge for himself. the two fight brutally, and firestar realizes that he can take scourge by surprise by using his nine lives. purposely, he lets scourge kill him.

- fire wakes in starclan, and sees his first life join their ranks. he sees stonefur, silverstream, goldenflower, and lionheart in starclan’s ranks, and they tell him that there were five clans in the forest.

- what do you mean, asks firestar, there’s five? look to your attackers. do you not see how they climb? they were your kin once, just as smudge was. embrace what you will find in their shadows.

- firestar doesn’t know what they mean, and wakes up. he sees scourge attacking graystripe and throws himself at scourge. the two continue fighting, but scourge is discombobulated. firestar rips apart scourge’s collar and slashes his neck open.

- the battle slows to a stop as cats realize what’s happening. scourge- no, smudge-’s breaths grow tiny and light. he becomes delirious- or perhaps comforted by starclan?- as he dies, and his pale eyes suddenly become dark blue and speckled with light. rusty, he asks firestar, do you see the falling star? beyond the fence, near those four tallest oak trees.

- i do, responds firestar, still too attached to smudge to let him die alone.

- the trees. they’re on fire now. and you’re there, and your friends are there, and your children and grandchildren... they’re all there. but it’s okay, everything’s okay. ...rusty, did we do alright, for a couple of kittypets?

- we did just fine, says firestar. you were, you are, and will always be loved. that is how it always has been...

- smudge dies, bloodclan leaves, and the clan becomes four again.

- firestar returns to the spot on the fence where the series began, carefully in the early morning so his former owners do not recognize him. he sees they have a new housecat now- life goes on. he thinks of all who he had initially met, that first night in the woods- graystripe was in another clan now, tigerclaw and bluestar and the old way of things was dead... but there was something new in the horizon, and firestar remembers how he had been told of the comet that signaled his arrival. perhaps only now was it truly coming to fruition.

- he buries smudge just beyond the fence, where the tulips were beginning to sprout. he looks at the sky and knows what must be. there will be a war of the stars, and all he can do is embrace that. for that is how it always has been...

- the dawn, he notes, had never looked brighter.

#warrior cats #warrior cats rewrite

[goatpaste]

WC design/headcannon/ect masterlist- Part A

just a list of ALL my designs for headcanons, maybe some design updates, any other comments or AU ideas i have. on main characters and characters with no plot!

These are all the cats who name starts with ‘A’, posting these in alphabetical order to not overload just one list lol

all under the cut >:3

Acorn Fur

my Acorn Fur design changed slightly as she used to be more red saturated and i wanted her to not so much like my Red Claw Design

My biggest Headcanon for her is she absolutely didn’t listen to Moth Flight and ended up giving birth to two kit’s with Red claw as the father. they names are Rain Stone and Oak Stump 

Acornpaw

Acornpaw, ancient skyclan warrior

i like the idea of Acornpaw is a decedent of Acorn Fur and one of the last generations of her family that would remember her name

A warrior name i think would be nice for him is Acorndrop

Acorntail

Acorntail, ancient windclan deputy.

i can imagine he was named the way he was being smallest in his litter, losing his tail to a rabbit trap when he’s older

acorntail stick with being deputy for awhile but i can see either he even after training an apprentice can’t keep up with the duties and once again insist that Morningcloud is made deputy. oR acorntail becoming leader as Acornstar and morningcloud or her apprentice Quickpaw being made his deputy 

Adderkit

Adderkit, starclan kit who used to live in windclan and died by adder bite, named for it and was avanged by tallstar 

I imagine Adderkit was originally named Burrowkit born to Ashfoot and Deadfoot in their first litter with Eaglekit. Adderkit died on Windclans Journey to find a home after shadowclan chased them out.

Adderkit was very young when they died i picture their memory of their living life being EXTREMELY blurry, they know their windclan and they died by an adder. its why they renamed themself, and they barely remember who their mom and dad were.

Adderpaw

Adderpaw, ancient windclan apprentice who was around to the apprentice age limit code

Adderpaw was name for what a good few other ‘adder’ and snake named kits are named for, their tail wiggling around with its patterns look like that of a skinny snake.

Adderpaw Warrior name ideas, Addergrace or Addersnag

Algernon

not much to say beyond i think my design for him looks very funny lol

but my design for him is that he is leucistic

Applefrost

Applefrost, kid of appledusk and reedshine

Named after her piece of shit dad, and raised on one sided stories of him she loved her dad and wanted to be like him as she got older.

She was the first victim of Mapleshade’s hauntings, picking her because she was named after the man who hurt her family and she looks a bit like him. 

(applefrost isn’t normally greying on the bottom naturally, this is a side effect on spending so many years training one on one with mapleshade in the dark forest. My crookedstar design also has this) Applefrost knows the name mapleshade and was skeptic to talk to her at first, but opened up and tries to just take what advice she can get from the spirit. Even coming to sympathies with her through learning the truth of her father. 

Then one day Mapleshade stopped visiting her, thought Applefrost would never know what happened, there is a reason.

Applefrost was full grown, and so kind even in the face of the warrior who killed her father. And she looked so much like him, yes he ruined her life but maybe this was the price she payed for what she did, to forever feel pain over the lose of someone who didn’t love her. 

It was part that, and part..something about the way she looked at mapleshade, and something she said sent her memories flying back to her little petalkit who looked so much like her. 

Mapleshade would stop visiting applefrost and move on to another generation of their family. 

Applefrost would never tell her siblngs of mapleshade, but would come to disown her own father in starclan. even being friends with petalkit.

Applepaw

daughter of breezepelt and heathertail

mostly in here because i needed to up date her design

she hasn’t received her warrior name yet but should be close in the books

but a name like Applebite or Appleleaf

Ashfoot

Ashfoot,  windclan warrior, deputy and mother of crowfeather

i absOLUTLY love ashfoot

i picture her to be a very like ‘badass warrior mom’ she give tough love and you can’t help but totally admire her. She loves her son crowfeather, though if she is honest he tends to disappoint her with how he kinda doesn’t know how to behave

she gets followed around by herds of kits who want to be like her, and her past apprentice’s (which she has many of) call her sheriff (or mom, which is embarrassing but common and crow HATES it) 

Her and Deadfoot are VERY lovey dovey, she loves her sweet husband dearly and was distraught when he died. They were best friends growing up as apprentices together and were both name ‘foot’ in sign they always walked paw and paw, being well synced in battle and in life, they were just perfect for each other. so its easy to imagine when Deadfoot died it was like she lost half of herself

Ashfoot has a very long tail, just oh so slightly shorter than talltail, her family is known for their long tail (a trait passed down through being descended of windstar) Long tails are often called a symbol of power or royality in windclan. its very diserable and only tallstar’s tail was longer than hers. Her son crowfeather, and grandson jayfeather both take after thing ten fold with tails you could trip 10 cats with. breezepelt has a longer tail than average but no were near as long as theirs and it dOES kinda make him mad.

Ashfoot also loVES nightcloud, at first when crowfeather told his mom that nightcloud was having his kit’s she was super skeptical, not of nightcloud but of their relationship. she just saw right through it for what it really was. so she mostly didn’t talk to nightcloud for the two month’s she was pregnant, as to avoid getting involved.

but when Nightcloud gives birth and all of her kits but breezepelt die and she is DISTRAUGHT. Crowfeather isn’t helping and doesn’t seem to find any words that comfort her or not make her more upset, so like a big ol man child he turns to his mom and begs her to calm down nightcloud.

and its this moment that Ashfoot find’s herself completely bonded to Nightclouds side, looking at the dark she-cat crying over her lost kittens with her single son mewling for her. Ashfoot herself has had two litters both that only had one survivor, Eaglekit’s litter (eaglekit only made it to paw before he died) and now all she has is crowfeather. Ashfoot stay’s by the queens side and comforts her new daughter in law. 

Ashfoot and Nightcloud are close, even when her and crowfeather ultimately don’t work out. 

Ashfur

dont have much for him i guess

i hate him lol

i like him more than most other boy cats that i hate lol

he’s just a lil piss baby

iv updated his design a good bit, i thought his old design was really bleh but i havent been able to touch it up till now

i defiantly think him and brambleclaw shoulda been gay

i dont like him with squirrel, BUT if they’de been closer in age i think he and squirrel before ashfur became a fuckin crazy person they would have been better togeather than her and bramble that i don’t understand why she went back to bramble even if she didn’t get with ashfur

alsO i think the only ‘au’ i can like get into is like

Dustpelt mysteriously disappeared, presumed dead by thunderclan and never to be known what happened. Except between him and Ferncloud. id loVe a narrative of Ashfur kills dustpelt after watching the full grown warrior and mentor reefer to Ferncloud as beautiful, finding the behavior absolutely repulsive. Maybe ashfur ends up killing a few other cats who are like this and Ferncloud knows he killed dustpelt but maybe not the others. and it all ends up coming spilling out in the fire, this moment of the three and squirrel learn what he did but now he knows what they did, so their at a stale mate. but ashfur is becoming loser and more erratic in his behavior and hollyleaf kills him before he does something dangerous. 

#warrior cats #acorn fur #acornpaw #acorntail #adderkit #adderpaw #algernon #applefrost #applepaw #ashfoot #ashfur

[nobettercrowfeather]

fooorest of secrets?

��Forest of Secrets -  Make an AU/rewrite for… (free choice for asker)

This isn't very original but I LOVE AUs where Jayfeather becomes a warrior instead, like he wanted, under Brightheart's mentorship. He's named Jayflight after his mother, and Leafpool is both proud Jay is able to fulfill his dreams but also saddened she won't have her son with her 24/7 (I always felt like that was something that brought Leafpool great joy even though they never really mentioned it in the books much, I think?)

This got out of hand and became a complete rewrite I used to keep in my head so here's... more:

Jayflight would work especially well when working as a team with his sibs, I feel. They actually sort of hinted at that in the books, with each of them being 'one of his eyes', so it's just... frustrating that it didn't happen to me :') he wanted to be a warrior, he wanted to have a mate and kits. He even begged Rock to let him live as Jay's Wing so that he could finally have the life he's always wanted. But just because he's talented with herbs and 'useless' otherwise he's shoved into the medicine den.

Continuing on The Power of Three AUs I would've very much prefered Lionblaze to have died in Hollyleaf's stead. Think about it... he's killed 1.5 cats on accident already, and nearly killed his own dad, all in a fit of rage. He struggles with his power making him aggressive. Wouldn't it have been perfect if he was the one to have killed Ashfur? Lionblaze also trained in the Dark Forest, so if HE was the one to protect Ivypool, his apprentice's sister (and sort of his own, since he, Cinderheart and Dovewing worked so close together) and saved her to atone for his misdeeds?

Hollyleaf could still run away upon learning the truth about her parentage, maybe even because she knows Lionblaze killed his clanmate, an unforgivable breaking of the code. Her experience with Fallen Leaves makes her see the code in a different way, namely that they're just a bunch of rules which at some point never existed, which is vital experience for her to eventually become Hollystar. Yes! I think she should've become leader, with Ivypool as her deputy.

Despite Squirrelflight being my favorite character, she shouldn't have been deputy imo (Bramblestar's mate and... too old!). Instead it would've been wonderful if Bramble made his kit his deputy to show how proud he really is of them. He feels bad about not making Jay deputy, but he tells Bramble he never wanted to, anyways.

Lionblaze's kits could have either been born before he dies, or (preferably) they could've been Jayflight's kits, with... I'm thinking Icecloud. Holly never has kits!! That's very important haha. I feel like she's the only she-cat ever to reject the idea of a mate and kits in favor of leadership, and she stays that way!

I'm also thinking Cinderheart might actually take Jayfeather's place as a medicine cat, after Lionblaze dies? Something about it being her own choice... StarClan gave Cinderpelt a second chance at a warrior's life, but I would rewrite her to be very attracted to the life of a medicine cat and for the moral to be that even with an unharmed leg, Cinderpelt would have chosen the path of a medicine cat, since she seemed genuinely excited at the prospect of working under Yellowfang! She might even take over Leafpool's spot considering... I think Leafpool's punishment should have stayed, not because she deserves it, but because there have to be consequences to make the code interesting at all, beyond 1 in every 100 cats going to the DF.

Also... I just think there's a lot of other things that should or at least could have been added... more drama between the tNP cast after settling into their territories, Dovewing and Ivypool's conflict being more satisfyingly resolved, Firestar and Sandstorm being more torn up about all that their daughters are suffering through, possibly some thick rivalry between Breezepelt and Lionblaze, Brambleclaw and Lionblaze caring AT ALL that the DF they used to train in is attacking, literally the entire Dark Forest battle... I would dedicate a full book to that what with there being 11 BOOKS OF BUILD-UP TO THAT....

Anyway, that's a lot, but PoT and OotS would have been my favorite arc if they were A: combined and B: written differently :')

#warriors #warrior cats #jayfeather #lionblaze #hollyleaf #warrior cats spoilers #mostly for Lion's ridiculous thirst for blood #WHO WOULD MAKE HIM DEPUTY????

[twilights-800-cats]

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Chapter 15

Feathertail kept her body still as the stone around her, nose twitching for the faintest scent of prey. Up here in the mountains, Feathertail had learned that scent was even more useful than sight – the clear air made it so even the craftiest of prey could be tracked.

In her periphery was Brook, who was just as still, just as attentive. The brown she-cat’s ears barely twitched, but Feathertail knew that she wouldn’t miss a single sound, and she was ready to spring at a moment’s notice.

Over the past two days, Feathertail had come to understand that hunting in these stony peaks was very much like fishing – patience was everything. Even her shadow had to be well placed, or prey might see it and run, like a fish in the water.

Still, Feathertail wondered just how long they were staying. Stoneheart’s injury was healing well, and the forest was in danger… But it’s been fun, Feathertail thought, glancing at Brook. Making a friend, learning how to hunt up here…

She pushed aside her worries. There was no time for it now. Regardless of the Tribe’s intentions, they were still sheltering the Clan cats. They needed all the fresh-kill they could catch, especially with frozen-water coming fast.  

Movement caught Feathertail’s eye – two small birds had landed in the stony clearing, searching for materials for their nests. Though they were out in the open, Feathertail didn’t dare move until Brook did. One wrong pawstep could cost the hunters both morsels. They looked plump enough for this season, and Feathertail’s stomach rumbled.  

The two birds began to fight over a stray bit of dry grass, wings fluttering. Brook chose to strike then, moving quick as an adder and pouncing almost two whole fox-lengths onto her prey. Her catch died instantly, leaving the other bird to flap frantically away.

Me, now! Feathertail bunched her muscles and leaped, her claws catching in the bird’s breast. She brought it down easily, killing it with a sharp bite. She lifted her catch proudly, purring at Brook, who looked just as pleased.

“Good hunt, you two,” meowed Boulder. The massive gray cave-guard padded down from the stony ridge that encircled the clearing. Feathertail gave him a grateful nod – without his sharp eyes, a hawk might have stolen those birds… or came for the two hunters.

Boulder looked over the birds, then up at Feathertail. “You’re hunting like a Tribe cat,” he purred, tail twitching. “You’ve learned our ways well.”

Feathertail’s pelt warmed under his praise, though she couldn’t help but feel a little awkward about it. Crowpaw had reported similar praise during a hunting party the day before, and Mistyfoot, too, had heard such things after alerting one of her patrols to a hawk. I’m RiverClan, she insisted to herself. Not Tribe…

“She’s learned a lot,” Brook, unaware of Feathertail’s thoughts, chimed in, her eyes shining. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a better to-be.”

Feathertail swallowed her discomfort. There was something so nice about seeing Brook looking happy – not many of the Tribe cats did, Feathertail had noticed.

“Thank you,” she managed. If she didn’t say something, Boulder and Brook might catch that she was uncomfortable. Without truly knowing the Tribe’s intentions, upsetting them didn’t seem wise.

Boulder looked up at the sky. “It’s clear,” he decided, looking back down. “I think we can keep going.”

Brook nodded in agreement. “I think so, too,” she mewed. “There’s definitely more prey in the area.”

“I’ll take these, then,” Boulder meowed. With his massive paws he pulled the two birds towards him. “Go on.”

Brook raised her tail eagerly, leading Feathertail away from the clearing. A small, clear stream ran through this area, and the two she-cats followed it until it began to tumble down a steep slope. They took a break there, at the edge of the trail, and lapped at the cold water. Feathertail thought she’d never tasted water so fresh and cold, not even in the forest.

“Look,” Brook offered, nodding out into the distance.

Feathertail obeyed, lifting her head. Her eyes widened in shock – here the path began to slope downwards, and though there were still a lot of the mountains left below them, she could see greenness on the horizon, and farther still…

Is that the forest? She narrowed her eyes at a dark green smudge, just beyond a tangle of gray Thunderpaths. It looks like it.

Her heart ached. There it was – home – and still it seemed so far away. Feathertail swallowed, a lump of emotion in her throat. What was going to be there when she returned? She was surprised – part of her dreaded returning home. Being half-Clan didn’t make her popular in RiverClan to begin with and returning with the news that her Clan would have to leave…

I shouldn’t feel this way, Feathertail told herself. StarClan chose me!

Why, though…? Why had they chosen her – the cat who had never felt like she had belonged in RiverClan. Why hadn’t they chosen anyone else? Why not Stormfur? Her littermate had never had any issue with fitting in.

“What’s wrong?” Brook meowed, concern in her voice.

Feathertail lifted her head, guilt piercing her. “I guess I never understood it, is all,” she murmured. “Why did StarClan choose me?”

Brook tilted her head. “I do not know,” she meowed, her eyes flickering with concern. “But your ancestors must have a reason.”

Feathertail’s tail trembled, and she wrapped it around her for comfort. “I was the wrong cat,” she admitted, choking on her emotions. “When I got the message, and heard we had to leave… I was so happy to go… to leave my Clan…”

“Why?” Brook wondered.

“I…” Feathertail swallowed, staring Brook in the eye. She recalled their conversation at Eagle Rock, heart pounding in her ears. “I was in love, remember? She… she couldn’t love me, though. Medicine cats aren’t allowed to have mates, it's part of their code, and she wanted to be a medicine cat so badly…”

Feathertail stared out at the forest – she was sure that’s what lay in the distance, she could feel it. She hunched her shoulders, feeling suddenly like a strong wind might blow her off the mountains. What was Mothwing doing now? Was Feathertail missed at all?

“When the dreams came I just wanted to leave,” Feathertail whispered. “Every day that I woke up and saw her, I was in so much pain…”

“You wanted to escape.” Brook’s mew was full of understanding. The prey-hunter paused, then asked, “Were you ever happy in your Clan, Feathertail?”

Feathertail looked up, her eyes meeting Brook’s. The Tribe she-cat’s gaze was full of sympathy and it felt so nice to see. Brook’s paw hesitantly touched Feathertail’s – a gesture of compassion, of care. Feathertail was grateful for it, and took what strength she could from Brook.

“I thought I could be, if I worked hard enough,” Feathertail admitted. She thought of her dream, days ago; her conversation with Tawnypelt. “But it never happened. I could have gone to ThunderClan to be with our parents, but… Stormfur loves RiverClan. I could never leave him there alone.” Another claw gripped her chest. “Oh, Stormfur… I should never have dragged him with me…”

Feathertail felt her pain bubbling up and out, and she couldn’t stop it: “He worked so hard for RiverClan. He wanted to be deputy, one day. And he might have done it, too, if I hadn’t begged him to come with me on this journey. RiverClan always doubted our loyalty before but now… after being gone for so long… and if he and Mistyfoot want to be together he’ll never reach his dream, and I’ll be all alone in a Clan that hates me!

“I’ve done nothing but run away, Brook – from Mothwing, from RiverClan, from myself… and I dragged him with me without even caring if it hurt him. What kind of cat does that make me?!” I’m such a mess…

Desperately, Feathertail looked into Brook’s eyes. What compassion could be there now, after learning what a selfish and terrible cat she was? Brook’s gaze was hard to read, but it looked as if she were thinking, trying to decide what to say.

Finally, after a moment, it seemed the prey-hunter had something. “Stormfur came of his own will,” she meowed carefully. “Because he loves you, not because you forced him; and perhaps… perhaps he has a purpose on this journey, too. One your ancestors have not shared with you.”

“I hope so,” Feathertail whispered back. Her limbs felt weak, the weight of her grief finally loosened, somewhat. “I’m sorry, Brook. You shouldn’t have to listen to this…”

Brook’s eyes turned warm. “I could never tire of hearing you speak, Feathertail,” she admitted.

Feathertail’s mouth went dry, her fur turning hot. There was so much affection in Brook’s tone… She’s been asking me to hunt with her all the time... Feathertail’s thoughts began to spin rapidly. She thought of Brook fishing beside the pool at Eagle Rock, how the sun touched her fur… Just me, not the others… Oh, StarClan…

She was saved from having to respond by Boulder, whose voice was sharp and urgent enough to slice through the two she-cat’s conversation and shred the tentative atmosphere surrounding them: “We have to leave – now!”

———————————————————-

Feathertail’s sides were heaving as she passed into the darkness beyond the waterfall, following Boulder and Brook. The rushed backtracking through the winding mountain trails had made Feathertail’s paws sting, and the cold, smooth stone of the cave was a relief – until her nose caught the smell of blood in the air.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She spotted Red, who was talking urgently with Snow near the back of the cavern. His pelt was speckled with blood, and thankfully he looked uninjured. His daughter Sun was pressed against him, trembling, her fear-scent strong. Beside them was Cloud, her black pelt barely visible in the dark.

“What’s going on?” Feathertail wondered, trotting up to the Clan cats. They were gathered up near the softpaw’s den, ears straining to hear Snow and Red over the roar of the waterfall. Brook immediately went to Sun, pulling her away from her father and comforting her with a gentle mew. Boulder pulled Cloud away, both cave-guards talking urgently.

“Red and Spray were out hunting,” explained Stormfur, “but only Red returned – no cat can find Spray.”

Feathertail looked out at the Tribe cats. Fear-scent filled the cave, and everywhere she looked she saw eyes wide to their whites and heard claws scraping against stone. Night was pushing her kits into the nursery, instructing them to stay at the very back and not to come out. Boulder soon joined his mate, the two of them standing guard outside the entrance.

The mood in the cave was not improving any time soon. Though there was surprisingly no speculation about what had happened to Spray, the Tribe cats were slowly and surely becoming more and more defensive, hunkering down and unsheathing their claws, eyes darting to the cave entrance as if they were expecting something to come through the waterfall.  

Movement at the back of the cave made the Tribe cats freeze. All eyes locked to Stoneteller as he emerged from his den, the waving water-light rippling along his skinny body. All of the Tribe cats slowly detached themselves from the walls of the cavern to meet their leader in the middle of the cave, silent and tense. Feathertail and the others joined them, Brook sitting beside her.  

Stoneteller raised his muzzle above the others, and announced in his rasping voice, “Spray has joined the Tribe of Endless Hunting.”

Shocked mews rippled through the crowd, and more than a few cats let out a yowl of grief. Feathertail stiffened, eyes widening. She’s… dead?

“No!” Brook mewled, her voice choked with grief. The small brown she-cat was trembling from ears to paws, and she leaned into Feathertail for support. “I trained with Spray as a to-be,” she murmured. “Why? Why did this happen to her…?”

Feathertail let Brook lean on her, feeling sorrow welling up in her heart. She glanced at her friends, all of them bristling with concern, even Crowpaw. I wasn’t the only cat who made friends here. Mistyfoot looked especially sorrowful, and Feathertail recalled her and Spray on patrol together more than once the past few days.

Red spun on Stoneteller, bristling. “You need to do something!” he hissed. “I can’t stand this – just waiting to be picked off like we’re the fresh-kill! It has taken my Pale, and now Spray… who is next? Sun?” Behind him, Sun let out a fearful whimper.

“What do you mean?” Mistyfoot wondered, taking a step forward, her blue eyes sharp. “What ‘it’?”

She was ignored, even as Red whirled on the Clan cats. His tail lashed at Stormfur, and he spat, eyes burning, “The storm has come – it is time to take a stand!”

All the cats in the cave fell silent, all eyes turning to look at Stormfur. Feathertail stared helplessly between the Tribe cats and Stormfur – what did Red mean? What did his words have to do with Stormfur?

“Brook?” she asked, looking over at the small she-cat.

Brook said nothing, turning her muzzle away. Feathertail didn’t miss the guilt flashing in her gaze, though. What in StarClan’s name is going on here?!

“It is time,” Stoneteller decided, his eyes burning into Stormfur.

To his credit, Stormfur was still standing tall, though nervousness flashed in his gaze. Mistyfoot edged closer to him, eyes darting between the Tribe cats. Feathertail saw Crowpaw’s claws unsheathe. Stoneheart was lashing his tail, his pale blue eyes frosty cold. Nightpaw and Shadepaw pressed themselves together, their hackles raised.

Feathertail’s heart beat in her ears – whatever the Tribe cats were hiding, they clearly couldn’t keep it to themselves any longer. Whatever was going on here was coming to a head.

Stoneteller raised his tail, standing. “We must ask the Tribe of Endless Hunting what we must do next.”

Suddenly the Clan cats were surrounded by the Tribe, being pushed to their paws and ushered roughly towards Stoneteller’s den near the back of the cave. There was a sharp, solemn determination in each of their eyes as they herded the Clan cats on. Feathertail got to her paws immediately to avoid being pushed. Stoneheart grunted as a Tribe cat pushed him onto his leg a little hard, and Crowpaw’s retaliating hiss was met with another push.

“What’s going on?” Feathertail demanded, staring at Brook.

Brook stayed silent; her gaze unreadable.

“We’re about to find out I think,” Nightpaw grumbled. “Hey!” he snapped as a Tribe cat trod on his tail.

“And what it has to do with you,” Shadepaw murmured, looking at Storumfur. She kept her tail close to her body.

The Tribe cats were being rough with the other Clan cats, but Feathertail couldn’t help but notice how they avoided doing so with Stormfur. Feathertail winced as Crag’s shoulder slammed her against Stoneheart, and she fought the urge to hiss at him, her belly churning with uncertainty.

“Do we even want to know?” grunted Stoneheart.

Feathertail swallowed as the darkness of Stoneteller’s den absorbed them, Stoneheart’s words echoing in her head…

#tb au #tb moonrise

[fencesandfrogs]

cloudtail’s daughter au

so i decided to do a full write-up of this au instead of doing a second post to cover books 4-6 and then everything will be self-contained.

the essence of this au is pretty simple: dovewing does not, imo, fulfill the prophecy by being the granddaughter of firestar’s nephew, because that’s at least 3 “kin” away from him. so while i think she’d actually have to be princess’ daughter to fit, i’ll let her be firestar’s grandniece and call that “close enough” because it’s better.

anyway, there’s no real reason for this to change anything, but i think given who cloudtail and brightheart are, and how close dovewing and ivypool are to whitewing, it would probably change quite a few things.

[4k words. 15 minute read. proper section headers.]

this is a big summary so i’m sure i’ll forget things, i’ve already had to add in the events caused by the dovewing/tigerheart romance/conflict that carries through the first three books, and that cloudtail being an atheist has a major effect on ivypaw. i know i wrote a detailed summary of the first arc, where i didn’t forget any of that, but nothing exists for the second arc. anyway this au is tagged cloudtail’s daughter and apparently i have a lot to say about it so i’m sure if you click on the tag you can find info about it. assuming this isn’t the first thing i post. which it might be.

section one: things that don’t happen

so i don’t want this to be a po3 rewrite, which means i’m going to take a moment to explicitly discuss what doesn’t change.

first, po3 stays pretty much exactly the same. i want jayfeather to be a warrior too. i also want him to be dovewing’s brother. but the au where brightheart gives birth to dovekit, anxiety child, and jaykit, blind, and feels like a failure despite the fact that its not like her half-blindness is genetic, is not this au. that is another au.

anyway, hollyleaf does keep herself more together, because she needs to be alive for some family drama. she’s in background character hell (BGCH) for a while, though, especially the first book.

she still goes to the tunnels, mind, she just comes out sooner.

but otherwise, despite my personal tastes, i’m not changing po3 very much.

section two: brightheart’s litters

okay so cloudtail and brightheart have four children, i believe, and my choice is either to replace whitewing, or to replace the others. now, i don’t particularly care for either of these options, but i’d rather they have their second litter younger, so we’re replacing amber/dew/snow. this still lets you have old queen drama, but not so much that you’re like “brightheart how on god’s green earth did you have 3 children with no issues”

instead, she’ll have dovekit and ivykit at about the same time whitewing had them.

now, for complicated cat genetic reasons, cloudtail could have been a black cat. now, here me out: what i mean is, if he wasn’t white, he could be black. basically, white is a masking color in cats, it goes on top of whatever pattern they would have displayed. both he and brightheart would have to inherit one dilute gene (princess was not dilute, so she had to carry it), and then either dovewing or brightheart are tortie, and that’s the best i can do for keeping dovewing grey.

i, personally, lean towards tortie brightheart, because i always pictured her that way, but i have seen some pretty cute tortie dovewing.

ivykit inherits red from her mother, and is tortie either way, because tortie ivypool is cute.

in fact, i’ve been tinkering with the idea that ivykit and dovekit have kind of mirrored grey and cream spots. not, like, perfectly mirrored, because that’s not how tortoiseshell/calico (they would technically be calico, since they have white) works, but close enough to be cute.

section three: arc one (summary)

these books are going to have six protagonists (dovekit, lionblaze, cinderheart, hollyleaf, jayfeather, ivypool, in that order) with a secondary character who gets less chapters but the most important b-plot (ivykit, hollyleaf, lionblaze, jayfeather, cinderheart, dovewing).

arc one focuses on “two braincells” i.e., dovewing, lionblaze, and cinderheart (sorry bb, ur not like the other two, but i’m putting you somewhere) and the main theme is dovepaw learning to manage her power. it’s a tug and pull between dovewing: glass canon, and dovewing: can’t do shit.

cinderheart and lionblaze also have a romance going on, which irritates ivypaw, who has a bit of a catalyst with the dark forest in the middle/end of the arc (like in the original). we only get this through external perspecives, though, because when this happens, lionblaze is in the secondary position.

one of the ways to fix this book series is to decouple it from ivy and dove, much as i love them. both the beavers and the dark forest make up a b-plot in this arc, while the quest for the third prophecy cat, as well as growing tensions between clans, take center stage, and lionblaze and cinderheart work in the second and third book to give us the adult perspective of the tension that dovekit and ivykit can’t in the first book.

mostly, this is fairly low stakes. part of that is because characters are having stakes appropriate for them, rather than smeared around in a book. (looking @ u, flametail buddy). so dovekit/paw spends her first book worried about apprentice things and doesn’t get to narrate again until the end of the series.

section four: book one — growing shadows

i think the fourth apprentice is a stupid name, okay?

so book one is dovekit and ivykit, for pretty obvious reasons.

although actually i’m pushing off the beavers in this to book two or three. i’m not 100% sure where i want that, yet.

so anyway, dovekit is born and wow is she anxiety child. (i call dovewing anxiety child a lot, because, well, she is? i feel like it’s sort of implicit in the books and i’m making it explicity.) anyway, she’s in sensory overload like 100% of the time. see, she was born late, and so she didn’t have her powers kick in over time like lionblaze and jayfeather. nope. she got the adult version right away.

so she spends a lot of time hiding with cloudtail because he’s big and fluffy and not complicated to look at. cloudtail and brightheart are understandibly pretty worried about her, because no one really knows what to do about it. she’s skittish and distractable and extremely sensitive. she hates going out in the rain, hates bright sun, etc.

(side note: dovekit’s powers extend to pretty much all her senses. she can see, hear, and smell much farther than she should, and she can taste and feel much more strongly than an other cat.)

ivykit doesn’t feel unloved, but she does know her sister is getting more attention, and that always kind of hurts, even if you’re understanding.

cloudtail and brightheart work to try to help dovekit get on her feet, but they’re not super successful. she learns to cope enough to be able to function as a kit, but she’s always kind of a strange, quiet kit. she doesn’t know how to talk about seeing too much because she doesn’t realize its too much.

dove is given to cinderheart, because lionblaze is a terrible mentor for small anxiety child, and ivy is given to lionblaze. this will also create drama later, just wait.

so the main plot of this book is keyed into dovepaw learning to hunt. the stakes are pretty low, honestly. they’re mounting around dovepaw and ivypaw, but the girls are too young to properly understand everything.

dovepaw is initially successful hunting due to some luck and being good at spotting prey, but she can’t replicate it. ivypaw only trains with her a bit at first, and she sees this success, and feels like her parents’ attention on dovepaw made dovepaw better than her.

this gets ivypaw into the dark forest. this is the b-plot: ivypaw training, realizing she made a mistake, and not knowing how to get out. plus, she doesn’t have to mind her sister. (ivypaw is raised by an atheist, so while she’s smart enough to eventually work out that these cats are evil, she doesn’t have a sunshine and rainbows view of starclan. that’s the only way i can justify her not being smart enough to nope the fuck out of there, even if she is really young and really angry.)

in clan life, ivypaw knows she needs to look out for dovepaw. she doesn’t mind, but she gets to experience a life without that in the dark forest.

dovepaw does mind how everyone treats her like she’s made of glass. she sees cinderheart talking to brightheart and jayfeather and firestar and feels like everyone thinks she’s useless. so she decides to go out on her own and prove she can function.

dovepaw starts sneaking out at night and she finds the tunnels. her senses dampened, she panicks, running deeper and deeper, getting lost. fallen leaves will find her, and help get her strength up and then get her out. kind of like with hollyleaf, who is out of the caves by now.

ivypaw sees everyone searching for dovepaw and starts to feel guilty about wanting more attention, and the fact that part of why she wants dovepaw back is so people pay attention to ivypaw again. she also feels responsible for this.

cinderheart is distraught, because she really did care about dovepaw, and it’s been three days, her scent tracked to the tunnels but it was raining and no one has seen her since, so she’s probably dead.

ivypaw, grieving, refuses to accept that dovepaw is dead and she hunts outside the tunnel mouth until she thinks she hears something.

dove and ivy reunite and return to the clan. ivypaw’s convictions that dovepaw needs to be protected are strengthened, and dovepaw knows she failed in her goal. everyone is happy to see them.

we get some fretting about how washed out everything is, how the rain didn’t even stick because the soil is so dry. that’s a cue to the drought, which will be a bigger deal next book.

section five: book two — fading echoes

honestly i’m not attached to book titles, but this works here too.

so this book is split between lionblaze and hollyleaf. i’m pretty sure hollyleaf is out of the caves by now, but i haven’t decided if she’s rejoined the clans. she feels strongly for fallen leaves: they’re listed as mates on the warrior cats wiki, and if hollyleaf and jayfeather are both going to have ancient dead ghost mates, she’s at least going to visit hers. her end goal is to get him to starclan so they can be together after her death.

anyway, this is beavers book. i don’t have a ton to say about it because it’s pretty much the same, except hollyleaf goes with dovepaw and cinderheart and she’s our pov as dovepaw falls for tigerheart because (and this is my understanding of her logic in the books to begin with): “big fluffy tom is safe fluffy tom.”

lionblaze feels the disconnect between him and ivypaw, but he can’t help that cinderheart is away. ivypaw is clearly preoccupied, but he can’t tell with what. his larger conflict is in finding the third cat.

this isn’t a filler book, per say. the tree falls and that happens, and lionblaze gets thrown into rebuilding camp. ivypaw feels doubly abandoned. lionblaze tries to win her affection, but he doesn’t know how.

beaver crew gets back. dovepaw has stars in her eyes. ivypaw is close to passing her warrior assessment, but lionblaze can tell she’s holding back because she doesn’t want to leave dovepaw. dovepaw can hunt by now, but she can’t really split her attention.

she’s scared of going into battle.

after a border skirmish where dovepaw just freezes, ideas of her being a medicine cat are raised.

ivypaw sees tigerheart in the dark forest, and she goes all bluefur being like “snowfur ur bf has rabies” on dovepaw, who is not happy with this. ivypaw pushes dovepaw to be a medicine cat because of this. the sisters are squabbling and barely talking.

book ends.

section six: book three — distant whispers

again not 100% sold on the names.

so this is cinderheart’s book, and she’s going to figure this out, because dovepaw and ivypaw are falling apart, and dovepaw deserves to be a warrior. so she convinces firestar to let her and lionblaze take ivypaw and dovepaw to the mountains. she believes, well, i’m not sure i haven’t worked that part out.

anyway, they go.

the tribe is like “yeah the world sure is a big place with a lot to look at. that’s why only half of us look.” (i know that’s not exactly how cave guard’s work but close enough.)

cinderheart is like “hm. what if, dovepaw, just a thought, what if you just, you know, avoid battles? i know it’s part of clan life but judging by the two souls crammed into my body, i’d say there’s been very few major conflicts over this and, reasonably, you should be able to avoid being chosen for battle control.”

dovepaw says, “but cinderheart, i’m a main character! unless i’m being punished or taught a lesson about duty, i’ll be automatically registered for every battle patrol until i die!”

cindheart says, “you’re right, i’m so sorry. hey ivypaw, [whoops yeah ivy and lion are here too sorry i forgot to mention that] what if you two learn to work as a team.”

dovepaw says, “i don’t want to work with her.”

ivypaw says, “that’s a great idea.”

because dovepaw talks very quietly (she forgets not everyone can hear as well as her), ivypaw wins.

they spend at least a month in the tribe, maybe longer, i’m not sure. eventually, they decide to go back. dovepaw is never happy in the tribe, it’s way too loud all the time, but she does manage to sort out her hunting issues, and so fighting is left.

so there’s still a big push for dovepaw to consider maybe being a medicine cat.

but that is not this au. this is the jaywing/dovefeather au where they basically switch roles. there’s a really good fic where dovepaw goes to riverclan for a while that i love and anyway this au is a as-close-as-possible to canon au for me to rectify my issues with dovewing in canon (nominally, i don’t have any, but i think her character was displayed…curiously, and i’m mad about the prophecy.)

ivypaw is team medicine cat. cinderheart and lionblaze are struggling. cinderheart eventually teaches dovepaw an extension of the techniques of the tribe, and they work out that dovepaw can kind of, track the cats she’s with to anchor herself in battle. this means dovepaw no longer is tied to ivypaw for her success, and so they both become warriors.

while they’re still in the tribe, ivypaw has time away from the dark forest and lionblaze finally puts two and two together, and that basically makes up the b-plot for the back half of the book, lionblaze trying to get ivypaw to admit what’s going on and then trying to help her.

dovewing’s senses begin to return but since they come back slowly she’s able to manage them. so she quickly excels in hunting.

ivypool cottons on to the dark forest breeding loyalty between its members, not to their original clans, and realizes that this is going to threaten all four of the clans.

end book with a bang, end first arc. we will now turn to the actually-have-more-than-two-braincells crew (sorry cinderheart, you don’t deserve to be in this group, but your prefix doesn’t end in -y, so you can’t be with jay/holly/ivy in the brainy crew.)

section seven: arc 2 (summary)

so this arc is when the main conflict (dark forest battle) becomes obvious. dovewing’s problems have been sorted out, so she’s pushed into BGCH for a little bit while the smart adults sort things out.

book three ends with ivypool realizing the dark forest isn’t a personal problem, but a clan-group (like, all of the clans together? not sure how to call it) sized problem. ivypool, jayfeather, and hollyleaf together manage to sort out a lot of the dark forest’s eventual plan, and they try to sort out a way to solve it. then the battle happens. that’s basically the summary?

in here, the clans start working together way sooner and the prophecy comes out way faster.

section eight: book 4 — the forgotten character

alright, hollyleaf is liberated from BGCH. actual title is still the forgotten warrior.

hollyleaf and ivypool start to bond, and hollyleaf is convinced all the clans need to know about what’s up.

ivypool disagrees, and they talk about it like rational people.

hollyleaf and fallen leaves are still cute.

jayfeather has his timetravel thing in this book so he can do flametail’s job in the next book. he gets to talk to hollyleaf and fallen leaves about it.

i don’t think i’d mess with jayfeather and briarlight’s relationship in this au, because i think it’s sweet in canon as is, but you know i have thoughts about half moon and briarlight. anyway, jayfeather gets his book next, this is about hollyleaf.

fallen leaves helps hollyleaf learn to control, idk, spirit dream travel? jayfeather helps with this too. hollyleaf has to share extra hard with jayfeather because she took up a disproportionate amount of time in lionblaze’s book.

so anyway, hollyleaf is learning to travel into the dark forest. similar to the way dark forest cats leave it? but in reverse. this is the main plot.

like the second book, it’s not really filler, so much as lower stakes, and like the second book, i don’t have a ton to say about it because the plot is self evident. unfortunately, hollyleaf has the two “chill” books. sorry bb.

anyway, this is building into jayfeather going all angry old man yells at sky at starclan next book, so the biggest conflict in this book is hollyleaf realizing she can just, leave. she can go back in time the way jayfeather did, but on purpose, save fallen leaves, and they can be alive.

i mean, that wouldn’t actually work, not the least because i’m not keen on hollyleaf being a reincarnation, espcially in the reincarnation-lite universe, but also because she can’t save fallen leaves, then he wouldn’t be a sharpclaw, not really, and like a whole host of other issues but anyway

at the end of power of three, hollyleaf runs away from her problems. this book is about her standing up to defend them.

i don’t know if she explicitly breaks up with fallen leaves, but they have a falling out that won’t get resolved until after the great battle. this is a mutual/not mutual thing where they both know that fallen leaves is stopping hollyleaf from fully committing to helping her clans now, but they love each other.

relationship conflict that isn’t forbidden romance.

speaking of, ivypool getting close to hollyleaf means that the two of them start to reconnect with their siblings. hollyleaf’s actions alienated her from jayfeather and lionblaze and she kind of just was sad and apologetic but they didn’t want to forgive her.

(sorry hollybush, says jayfeather,

that’s not my name, says hollyleaf,

oh, says jayfeather, guess i forget. well anyway, i have a new sister now. her name is dovewing.

dovewing?, says hollyleaf. but you don’t like her.

it’s okay, says jayfeather, she never tore my family to shreds and then abandoned me to deal with the fallout.)

(jayfeather and hollyleaf always seemed closer to me than lionblaze and either of them, until hollyleaf’s whole event. anyway he remains petty about everything and lionblaze stands by him because, well, he’s not wrong, also dovewing is important to cinderheart so he feels like he should be on her side on this which means jayfeather’s side. even though cinderheart is friends with hollyleaf look i said lionblaze is a loveable dumbass already, didn’t i?)

so anyway hollyleaf is sad and ivypool sees that and is like “hm maybe i shouldn’t be a petty bitch for no reason” and this is fine until after this series is over when dovewing and tigerheart are like “bitch we gon b together”

dovewing’s emotions get jayfeather to, well, not go back on his actions, but recognize hollyleaf is the most effective person to work with. because lionblaze and dovewing are just. so dumb.

and yeah this book ends with things feeling almost hopeful.

section nine: book 5 — sign of the moon

i cannot overstate how little i care about the titles of these books.

anyway, jayfeather and cinderheart.

i don’t have a ton of thoughts about this one. jayfeather reunites starclan, cinderheart helps convince ivypool and dovewing to work together. this is the book where clans find out about the propechy but not the dark forest that is for next book

they know something is coming, but everyone agrees not to give ivypool away yet. they like her, you know, alive.

anyway, i don’t have much to say because it’s pretty obvious what happens, because this is just a bunch of events from other books crammed into this book, now, and they’ve been written and i don’t see the need to make many changes.

cinderheart and lionblaze have kit drama, maybe? cinderheart counsels dovewing about tigerheart, maybe? my point is it’s not super important.

the book ends with the two warriors to every camp. and dovewing, jayfeather, and lionblaze, are going to get split up.

this is my biggest change so far imo because it’s the most plot relevant.

dovewing is going to shadowclan with ivypool. jayfeather is going to windclan with…i’m not sure yet? i don’t want him going to riverclan because leafpool has ties to riverclan and, well, i want jayfeather to get a chance to stand on his own. and lionblaze goes to riverclan, with either cinderheart or hollyleaf.

jayfeather is super grumbly about this, but admits that it’s important as a show of unity, and also, he’s pretty functional in wind clan? like they’re all playing to their strengths.

jayfeather learns to navigate pretty quickly, dovewing appreciates quiet and also not being that-strange-cat who everyone is super careful around, and lionblaze is big and gregarious and enjoys riverclan being chill and friendly. so yeah, people get a chance to chill and be happy.

ivypool is in position to be angsty next book.

end book.

section ten: book 6 — the last hope

despite my claim that the biggest change is sending the three to different clans, i don’t have a lot to say about it.

basically, well, okay

first, we see ivypool and dovewing again. reminder that last time we were in one of their heads, they were apprentices. in book one.

dovewing couldn’t even hunt last time we had her pov.

so there’s a few chapters to some characterization that happens. dovewing is no longer anxiety child. she’s somewhat shy, she’s soft spoken, but she’s not skittish. you can’t surprise her. and she’s intense. she’ll just stare at you with wide eyes if you come talk to her until you say something she wants to respond to.

ivypool sees why dovewing and tigerheart are good together. she’s still not supportive, but, like, he understands her. he doesn’t treat her like she’s fragile, but he also is kind and forgiving and soft to her.

plus he’s a total simp for dovewing. that helps.

anyway, ivypool gets along fairly well in shadowclan. i don’t have ton of thoughts about this.

ivypool, hollyleaf/cinderheart, and jayfeather’s companion, as well as half of the other cats away on missions, are acting as messengers between their host clans and their home clans. that’s how ivypool gets to find out about info. they meet on the island every morning. or something.

anyway, this bit is where i most hate the set up of this with two pov per book hard cap because it’d be cool to see into everyone else’s head but that’s for novellas and side stories.

the battle happens.

everything sucks. dovewing has basically committed to tigerheart, but bramblestar’s storm messes with the timeline.

and that’s pretty much it.

section eleven: what’s next?

so i swore i wasn’t starting new fic and then i thought of this and now i do want to write it so, maybe?

the most important thing is:

tl/dr: the reason dovewing shouldn’t have been a prophecy cat is because she’s not the kin of firestar’s kin.

#dovewing #ivypool #jayfeather #cinderheart #lionblaze #hollyleaf #warrior cats #cloudtail's daughter #mine #txt #22nd #February #2021 #February 22nd 2021 #q #essay #long #lovewing dovewing

[need1etail]

🎉Dovewing and Ivypool?

Oh god these two. I'm gonna rant about both of them and where I stand on their relationship instead of them in general just cause.

So uh. Yeah. These two are. Weird. I love them don't get me wrong, but their relationship could've been fixed if the Erins tried to. The whole reason Ivypool doesn't like Tigerheart is because he trained in the Dark Forest right? Well I want a scene of redemption for Tigerheart, I want to see him show Ivypool that he's a good guy and that he'd never harm her sister or their kits. C'mon the second half of AVOS was boring enough, we could've had that show up at some point. Idk I just wanted to see Ivypool grieve the loss of her sister more, and maybe even forgive her and apologize for the shit she said about Tigerheart.

Now that doesn't mean that Dovewing doesn't have some apologizing to do. She broke the code and had half-Clan kits and that's a big deal, but while she should have apologized for making a mistake, I wanted to see her fucking stand up for herself. Call out the code and the Clans and StarClan, ask why what she did was a mistake. I'm sure no one would be able to answer her. I want Leafpool to stand up for her, say that falling in love is no crime. I wanted Dovewing to come to her senses and realize that the Clans are wrong, that they need to be closer to keep themselves alive.

If I rewrote Tigerheart's Shadow, I'd honestly want to make it so that both Tigerheart and Dovewing are POVs. Show Dovewing missing her family in ThunderClan, and being torn about where she would go if she were to return and Tigerheart coming to terms with the fact that he can't force Dovewing to return home with the help of the Guardians.

Anyway back to Ivypool, I really wanted to see her and Dovewing reconcile and apologize to each other for everything they've done to each other. It would've been good to force those two into a situation that they have to work together to get out of instead of just separating them forever. We could have even seen Ivypool looking at Shadowkit, Pouncekit, and Leapkit (L . . . Leapkit right?? Oh my god I can't remember her name JFKWIDJX) playing with Flipkit, Bristlekit, and Thriftkit and Ivypool be like "I can't forgive you, but I don't want our kits to never see each other for one mistake" I butchered that but something along those lines SOMETHING for Ivypool to realize that Dovewing did nothing wrong and that they're still kin. They do not need to forgive each other yet, they can take time to heal, but they need to apologize and stop dwelling on each other's mistakes.

The fandom uh. Is really annoying when it comes to these two. Half says Dovewing is too whiny, half says Ivypool is too whiny, I say fuck that shit they're both whiny and I love them. They're both so perfectly flawed and they have such good stories, and while the Erins didn't do the best job on them, they're probably two of the best written cats in the books, imo. Why do you need to hate one or the other, just. Realize that they're both pretty bad (I know I know Ivypool is worse than Dovewing because she didn't handle her feelings well) and move on. Or! If you have the time, write down some things you'd change about them! It's always fun to deep dive into a character and see what you would want to do with them. I've said this to my boyfriend before and I'm gonna say it again: if you complain about a character being too whiny, and you do nothing to fix it, you're the whiny one. Stop complaining and fucking do something about it, rewrite the character, rewrite a whole arc if you have time! It's fun!

I was gonna get into Dovewing's relationship with Bumblestripe but I feel like I've said enough lol. Dove and Ivy are so. Good. Honestly, I really love their characters and they deserved so much better . . .

#rambling #ask #anon #ask game #ivypool #dovewing #Tigerheartstar #tigerstar #tigerstar the second #tigerheart

[ailuronymy]

Book Club: Tallstar’s Revenge, chpt. 19-27 overview.

Meta analysis of Erin Hunter writing tropes and trends, courtesy of two acclaimed e-sports commentators: 

“[Erin Hunter is] like, we need these characters to seem smart, so they will be the ones to call out all the bullshit. But they [the writers] don't go, wait, why is the bullshit even happening, it doesn’t make sense, and then write something better in the first place. I guess because we read these books on such a meta level so often, it really feels like watching one person play ping-pong against themselves, but one persona needs to look good so the other persona keeps giving themselves wedgies at the table and holding the paddle the wrong way. Which is... less impressive overall than just watching a nice normal game of ping-pong.” - S.

“Erin Hunter, about to self-own: I'm gonna pull what's called a pro-gamer move,” - K.   

“Literally! I can’t get past it. I know both players are you, Erin Hunter. I can see you putting on your dunce hat and walking to the other end of the table. You’re not tricking me.” - S. 

This week we’re discussing this chapter through these nine questions. Please feel welcome to do the same and @ailuronymy + use the tag #ailuronymy writing challenge. Happy reading and I’m looking forward to seeing your feelings about this book.

1. First impressions?

K. Oh boy. Lots of emotions, lots of rollercoaster moments. I'm actively hating the things that are happening, all the time, forever.

S. Mood. I would say actively detesting what's happening is the primary emotion now.

2. How did you feel reading this section?

S. Very much bounced between anger and frustration, with moments of genuine delight. Very much extreme ends of the negative and positive spectrum.

K. I don't think I've been more confused and full of pure venom in my life. As a writer I am appalled, and as a reader I am... so uncertain. The good bits were truly lovely to read, though. They made it feel worthwhile, when they shone through.

3. What chapter did you find most interesting/moving/effective, and why?

S. I think it's got to be the conversation with Heatherstar and Barkface. I think that most hooked me. I was also interested with the Flailfoot conversation, although I hated the turn it took. It will be different in my version.

K. Chapter Twenty is the one that actively had me yelling aloud. I was so ready for the Erins to make Tallpaw a tunneller out of sheer fear, and so to see the back-to-back catharsis of Heatherstar disbanding the tunnellers and then Dawnstripe being so A+... god. It got me good.

4. What chapter did you find least interesting/effective/most frustrating, and why?

K. I honestly blue-screened throughout all of Chapter Twenty-Seven, the last chapter. Without anything happening at all,  I saw a swathe of unending, dull descriptive text and my mind just blacked out to save me from comprehending any of it.

S. Was that the moonstone one?

K. Nope, that's like, the very last chapter of our reading. When he leaves the Clan and finds some rogue cat to lead him in the direction of a house.

S. Oh right. I forgot that too. I'm going to go with the Moonstone chapter, though. I fell asleep and dreamed of a better book for that whole time.

5. Is there a passage that stuck in your mind–for good, or not-so-good reasons? What is it, and why did it stand out? Try breaking it down and analysing what this passage does and how.

S. There were several things in this chapter I loved and that really resonated with my concept of Tallpaw and my writing. 

S. “He’d be a warrior soon, then a senior warrior like Hareflight. One day he’d be an elder, limping like Whiteberry and sharing stories from moons ago with his denmates. Above the vast sky stretched toward distant horizon. The Clan looked small and fragile beneath it. Was this it? His life laid out before him like an old story, told again and again through countless moons? Tallpaw’s chest tightened. Suddenly he felt trapped, as though he were in the tunnels once again.”

S. “A thought flashed in his mind. We’re just visitors, like the rogues. We arrive, we eat, we sleep, and then we move on to StarClan. The only difference was that Clan cats stayed in one place their whole life. I’ll only ever see heather and grass and sky. Tallpaw felt WindClan’s borders pressing closer.” I loved this kind of thinking showing up in the story, and I’d have loved way more of this and far far less of literally everything else. You could honestly cut out all of the Sandgorse angst and just lean into this, because it's good and it's real.

S. I also lost my whole mind at this bit: “They’re survivors, like you,” Barkpaw purred. They walked in silence for a while. Talltail gently steered his friend toward Outlook Rock.  “I love this view,” he mewed as he led Barkpaw out across the stone. Barkpaw peered into the night-shadowed valley. “Why? Everything is so dark and far away.”  Talltail sat down, beckoning Barkpaw to sit beside him with a flick of his tail. “Just wait.”  “For what?” The sky was growing pale as the sun pushed up toward the horizon behind them. Glancing over his shoulder, Talltail saw weak rays seeping through the bare branches of ThunderClan’s forest. “You’ll see in a moment,” he told Barkpaw.  As he spoke, the sun lifted above the trees. Sunlight swept the moor and lit up the tips of Highstones.  S. I was basically like fist-pumping. Canonical evidence that dawn is Tallstar's favourite time of day. I didn't know this before I wrote my other story, but damn it feels good. I love when things line up serendipitously like that. 

K.  Absolutely. Those felt so good to read. Not a very long passage, but: “How could his Clan be so unfeeling?” — This isn’t a galaxy brain take or anything, but I do love how evident it is that Tallpaw is just. Solidly projecting his own feelings onto everyone else. They’re not unfeeling, dog! You are!!

6. What themes have you noticed in this section? Are these themes a continuation of the themes you noticed in the first section, or has the story’s focus changed since then?

S. In the first chunk, I picked out "division" as a theme. And that feels very true still, as far as what's happening in the story. It's even more emphatic, with Palebird pushing Talltail out of her family (or so he feels, and with reason, in my opinion) and his self-imposed removal from the clan.

K. "Desire" might also be poignant for this section, actually. Talltail's desire to go off on his own, Barkface's desire for Talltail to be happy, so many other background characters doing something with their lives to have a new start (while Talltail broods).

S. Yes! I agree there. It's actually pretty interesting how the clan's unity in the face of tragedy and their kinship with the visitors is actually a big catalyst for Talltail to feel that division happening. The more together they are, the more apart he feels. I think desire is true of this too. There's--as always--a lot of emphasis on individuality, and choosing your own destiny and doing what you want.  It reminds me of that line from Hawkheart that I really liked, how every cat has to choose their destiny.

7. If you were going to learn a lesson from this section, what lesson would it be? What message stands out to you most clearly? Do you agree with it?

S. I think insofar as I can glean a lesson from this section, I'd go with learning from Heatherstar: sometimes it will be difficult to help people and they might resent you for it, but if you have the power to make a positive change, you should act, even though it's hard. S. That feels very appropriate, given the state of the world right now. So many people are angry that authority figures are telling them to stay home and prevent the spread of COVID, and are resenting the very people who are trying to save their lives. I can see that same issue playing out so clearly in these chapters, after the death of Sandgorse in the tunnels.

K. Absolutely. It's so, so easy to direct anger towards something or someone tangible, rather than accepting that there are things that Just Happen and there's nothing you can do about it.

K. I was going to say something very similar: the things you need to make yourself better aren't always the things you want to hear. So many people try to help guide Talltail away from his anger or towards other, much healthier ways of thinking -- all of them trying to tell him he doesn't HAVE to be a tunneler is one moment -- and he just HATES hearing it, every time. He doesn't want to accept it. It feels better to be in his emotions about it, even if that's most obviously the worst thing he could be doing for himself and for others. Sometimes you just have to let other people give you the honest to god vibe check and learn to put your heart down for a bit, to see what you need to see.

S. Definitely. I feel that getting better necessitates taking responsibility for yourself. It seems like Talltail is resisting that, maybe because it's difficult to be honest with yourself. If you try, you risk failing. And the problem with any kind of self-improvement or recovery is that it's overall made up of little moments of trying to be better every day. That's so much failure to face, it can feel insurmountable. Whereas one grand gesture of revenge? So much easier.  Anger is a motivating emotion, so if you stay in anger, you can often get things done. But anger is also an emotion that makes it harder to react with patience or think clearly. A double-edged sword, if you will.

K. Absolutely. Pinning "if I complete X Task, I will feel better and fix myself" on some big goal is way easier.

S. I think that's what's happening for him at this time. He's not willing to do the mundane, scary work of trying to be better each day, and is going for something he thinks will alleviate guilt instead. But of course it won't.

8. The title of this novel is Tallstar’s Revenge. How do you feel about that title so far? Does it reflect the content of the story well, or would you choose a different title? What alternative title would you suggest?

S. I personally feel the title sets up the story poorly. Because I knew it was hinged around revenge, I was alert and looking for it from the start. I was paying attention to potential betrayals or crimes, so on. And when I realised this extremely unlikeable awful character, Sandgorse, was the catalyst, I got real mad.

K. I don't even know what better title would work, since I'm honestly not very fond of the Super Editions titles. They just... all do the same, on-the-nose shit and it makes it very boring from the start.

S. I think if we were allowed to tweak it a little, The Forgiveness of Tallstar, would be a title I would potentially enjoy more. There's an ambiguity to it, re: who is being forgiven. Is it Tallstar who needs to be forgiven, or is it Tallstar doing the forgiving. And I think you could thematically tie that in so much better to the kinds of beats this story is already showing up.

K. The only like, quote from the book that I think you could mangle into a title is "We guard the edge of the world," which like... I dunno, having something like "On The Edge" included in there feels right. The book's obviously full of big tension and drama within Windclan, while also noting that they literally are on the fringe of Clan territory.

S. I think maybe Beyond the Edge of the World? Since that’s essentially where Tallstar’s journey takes him? 

K. Yeah!

9. Many of us read because we’re curious to find out what’s next. How has curiosity featured in your experience of this book? What’s motivated you to keep reading?

K. Hoo boy. Honestly, half of the reason I'm reading is just with crossed fingers that somehow, SOMEHOW, Talltail becomes better. I know he must. He has to.

S.  For me, curiosity is a big part of why I'm reading--and continuing to read--this book. I want to know what happens next! I'm just usually expecting not to like it.

Final notes:

K. I'm excited for Jake to show up, because I feel that'll help break up whatever the hell Talltail is doing. He needs an excitable twink to break him from the evil fog he's in. S. I don't know if Jake is a twink, honestly. K. Oh, very true. We do love a good himbo. S. He's a bit of a rolypoly boy, according to the wiki. K. OH, even better. K. I forgot that Talltail is the twink. S. He's just a long sad string bean.

K. I AM APALLED AT THIS TURN OF EVENTS, ERIN K. This book is… it’s like being consistently starved to death and then given like, a single apple slice and going ravenous for it. There are so many moments that FEEL great (even if they’re not miraculous, writing or content wise), almost solely because so many things that precede them straight up cause my reader brain to flatline. The despicable one-two punch of Chapter Nineteen into the handful of great moments in Chapter Twenty makes me feel like I’m being waterboarded by Erin Hunter. K. Erin Hunter, holding my head down into the waters of godawful content, before yanking me up for air to see Heatherstar and Dawnstripe saying Good Things just to shove me in again. S. I can't disagree with you. S. I genuinely had moments of going "yeah!!!" followed by "NO!!!" like that one John Mulaney skit.

S. Anyway, I'd like to start us off with a familiar old Erin Hunter classic theme, quoting my notes:  - "Is it even a Warriors novel without multiple birth scenes?" - "Oh excellent another peripheral birth scene, I felt that there wasn’t quite enough in this book so far" S. If I don't have multiple women moaning and/or shrieking and/or groaning from birthing pains in my Warriors novels, I'd be devastated. K. It'd break the immersion.

K. I am very happy to see Deadfoot on the scene though, even though he shows up for like. .5 seconds before he's gone. A very good and lovely baby boy. S. “Tallpaw turned back and tucked his nose under the black tom’s belly. “Hang on!” he warned, flipping the kit onto his shoulders. Tallpaw purred as the young kit dug his tiny claws into his pelt, and carried him over to his littermates.” uhhhh what the fuck K. YUP K. Y U P K. HEY ERIN S. Let me just uhhh toss this child like a sack of potatoes over my cat shoulder real quick. K. Tiny Tim over here S. I lost it. I'm like, you really don't care what cat bodies can do, do you?  K. Erin Hunter: hmmm what if we just pepper in some wack shit. Like, what if it's just. Nonsensical as fuck. Who's gonna tell us we can't? Harper Collins? S. And the answer is: of fucking course not, kitty kung fu time.

K. “You’ve turned mean, Tallpaw,” Reena spat. “ That’s why you’ve got no friends anymore. Whenever a cat comes near you, you bite their head off.” “So?” Tallpaw hissed. “At least I don’t kill them.” “See what I mean?” Reena’s gaze hardened. “Why don’t you talk to me once you’ve finished feeling sorry for yourself?” — God I love Reena, calling it like it is. S. Mood, but also: hate Erin Hunter for doing this to him, over Sandgorse. K. "Flailfoot is trying to reason for a Sandgorse Redemption Arc and I will NOT be having it, you LOSE sir, GOOD DAY," S. Note two from my notes page: "I DON’T CARE ABOUT SANDGORSE" S.  Gets abused by father. Father dies in what is objectively an accident caused by his own defiance and hubris. ??? Goes on a hateful revenge spiral to try and make daddy proud. K.  The worst part is that, unlike Bluestar's which was a fucking awful mess the entire way through, this one gives us just enough to show that the Erins are capable of like. SOMETHING. They can write okay things! They know what they're handing us is bullshit and they do it anyway! It's infuriating. S. From a writing perspective, it's kind of fascinating to see this all happen, because like. What a fucking horrorshow. S. Really feeling in this moment for the people who think Erin Hunter is a good writer. They're getting swindled on Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why levels. S. Where's the secret good fourth episode, Erin???

K.  “Tallpaw’s wish to learn the skills that led to his father’s death shows true courage.” — HEATHERSTAR WITH THE PREMIUM ROASTS K. Followed by: image: “fuck them [tunnels]” K.  “Shrewpaw!” Dawnstripe glared at the apprentice. “Show some respect to your Clanmate.” Hareflight joined them. “Stop teasing him, Shrewpaw!” “This has gone beyond teasing!” Dawnstripe snapped. “If Shrewpaw were my apprentice, I’d claw his ears.” — HOLY FUCK, GET HIM K. The fact that nobody has noticed Shrewpaw using his claws during training is fucking ridiculous, though. He's done it the whole book, Erin. They would know. They would know. S. Admittedly don't love how everyone's concept of discipline is straight to violence, but we'll overlook that, I guess. K. I understand that like, bullying is something that can go unseen very often, but like. Come on, man. S. Yeah. It's like wearing knuckledusters to a playground fight. Hard to overlook.

S. It's what happens when your characters don't have internal worlds. They're just props standing there until you need them, not people watching and listening to what you're writing right in front of them. S. The problem with Erin Hunter's writing for me is that by this point it's hard to read their female characters generously. S. Most of the time I can go, "okay but if we pretend this woman is real, what rich inner world does she experience?" and try to pick up where lazy writers leave off, but like... Erin Hunter's characters are so vapid. K. It's horrible to read. It's just the worst. S. Not just the female characters, but especially the female characters. And I hate it. K. I'm genuinely surprised that Dawnstripe and Heatherstar haven't been mangled already, but honestly, half of my rage at this book comes from their moments, because it shows that the Erins know exactly what they're doing and how bad this fucking plot is. K. Two major background characters are constantly talking about how things Should Not Be The Way They Are, and it just makes me wanna bang my head on a wall. I know you can see the elephant in the room, Erin. You know this. You know the bad things you're making. S. I genuinely feel that’s why they do it. They make bad plots because it’s easier to make certain characters seem smart or likeable if everyone’s a rude idiot.  S. They’re like, we need these characters to seem smart, so they will be the ones to call out all the bullshit. But they [the writers] don't go, wait, why is the bullshit even happening, it doesn’t make sense, and then write something better in the first place. S. I guess because we read these books on such a meta level so often, it really feels like watching one person play ping-pong against themselves, but one persona needs to look good so the other persona keeps giving themselves wedgies at the table and holding the paddle the wrong way. K. FUCK, THAT'S EXACTLY IT S. Which is... less impressive overall than just watching a nice normal game of ping-pong. K. Erin Hunter, about to self-own: I'm gonna pull what's called a pro-gamer move, S. I just can't get past it. S. I know both players are you, Erin Hunter. I can see you putting on your dunce hat and walking to the other end of the table. S. It makes it really hard to sink into the story. Whenever something stupid happens, I'm brutally yanked out of the narrative, and it's happening constantly at this point, because of the direction they're taking Tallpaw. S. I've tried to like, put that aside and imagine his perspective, but it's so challenging for me to envision an experience where I'm a nice boy on a moor with an idiot backwards dad who bullies me and tries to control my life with emotional manipulation and disregard for authority, and then he dies of the thing everyone was saying was super dangerous and off-limits, and then I lose my mind because I didn't make him proud while he was alive (which he's not anymore, because of tunnelling) so I need to do the thing that killed him (which is tunnelling). S. Tallpaw can't be smart and also have this characterisation for me. It's too incongruent.

#ailuronymy book club #hope you're all having a good time reading along! as always if you'd like to share your work please @ this blog. happy reading!

[mandareeboo]

Unfinished Work #32: “Nightmares” (Completed Chapter)

Last one for the night! This one is actually finished, but the writing is outdated and I never was confident in posting it when I wrote it. Another Ivypool story, but this one set in a sort of personal hell, where she confronts her inner demons with some help from an unlikely source.

———————————————————————————————————–

Ivypool wasn’t sure what she was running from, exactly, but she didn’t stop. Darkness pressed in from all sides, suffocating and lifeless. The only sound she could hear was the sharp smack of her paws on the thin layer of water that seemed to take up the ground, still save for when she startled it.

She knew this was a dream. Ivypool’s mind had never fully recovered from spending almost every night in the Place of No Stars, and she suspected that was why everything was so dull in sleep. So empty. That didn’t make things any less scary, though she did her best to keep her fur flat.

Ivypool could always be hurt in her dreams, for so, so long. Why would that change now?

The fire in her chest forced her to a halt. Ivypool squeezed her eyes shut and focused on breathing. Long and deep, that’s it. Can’t show any fear.

She wondered what would happen if she slept here, then decided against it. The warrior wasn’t sure exactly where ‘this’ was, and she never wanted to chance it. Ivypool got to her paws and started moving again, this time at a slower pace.

It was impossible to tell what was up for down here, left or right. Could a cat turn around without realizing it? Probably. The silver-and-white tabby she-cat kept her eyes ahead. If she died lost, she at least wanted to have died doing something.

Blossomfall must still be sleeping, Ivypool thought. That’s why she hasn’t woken me up yet. Fine. I can wait.

She forced her mind onto happier paths than the one she was jogging. Once Blossomfall woke her up, they could go on a dawn patrol together. Squirrelflight always assigned an ex-Dark Forest warrior or two for that time of the day; she appreciated how energetic and chipper they were.

After that, she would share some prey with Dovewing and Briarlight. The disabled warrior always had a funny story to tell about Jayfeather and Leafpool, and that would cheer her sister up a little. Purdy might join in; he loved telling that story about Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Breezepelt getting chased by dogs.

Hollyleaf. She frowned. I’m so sorry.

Evening hunting or border patrol from there. Ignore the looks Harespring or Ratscar would give her from across their respective borders, if they were even there. Maybe Cloudtail could give her some tracking tips. Share tongues with Whitewing and Birchfall, avoiding her father’s eye and mother’s questions. Polity dodge Spiderleg if he got too close.

I can do this. I can wake up from this.

The void didn’t so much as twitch.

A brown pelt flashed out of the corner of her eye. Ivypool froze, claws slithering out. The warrior tasted the air; the stench of RiverClan was light, but still there. Hawkfrost. It would be just like her ex-mentor to haunt her after dying twice.

Something peatier nearby, much stronger. WindClan? Ivypool cautiously broke into a trot. She didn’t catch any signs of a second pair of paws following her. Can a ghost of a ghost even make sound?

The brown flash was back, growing as she moved. It gained shape through her beating paws, coming into focus like a bug buzzing closer to your eyes. Ivypool went into a full-on sprint, this time to speed up the process, and soon another cat ran beside her. His one black ear came into color last.

Antpelt.

Guilt slammed her like a warrior in a territory battle. Ivypool slowed and stopped, falling into a sitting position. Antpelt blinked at her from a few mouse-lengths ahead, gaze expectant.

Does he want me to run with him?

“I can’t do this,” she rasped. “Not again.”

Antpelt slowly sat down.

“You’re dead,” she told him. “Hawkfrost killed you, and I destroyed what was left of that. I ruined you.”

“I’m dead, but I’m not forgotten,” Antpelt meowed. “This is the place where the echo of memories go. You’ll never forget me, will you, Ivypool?”

Ivypool stared at her paws, then at him. What was left of him, anyway. “I wish I could.”

“But you can’t,” Antpelt replied reasonably. “And this is who you remember me as- the cat who tried to give you room to stand after falling over in training. Why is that? Why focus on this part of me? You could’ve made me cruel and bitter, but you didn’t.”

“I don’t know,” she meowed hopelessly. I wish I did. “Maybe it’s just to make myself feel worse?”

“Nobody remembers the good,” Antpelt tsked. “Nobody remembers the good Tigerstar did, do they? He pulled ShadowClan out of sickness and made it into the Clan it is today. Without him, ShadowClan might not exist anymore. That’s why StarClan named him leader. But nobody cares, because the evil outweighs the good. So why do you see the good, Ivypool? Justification? Do you think suger-coating what you’ve done will make the cat you became in the Place of No Stars any better?”

Ivypool didn’t respond. Just remember patrol. The taste of fresh-kill. The blood is gone. I washed it out of my fur moons ago. Don’t look down. It’s gone. It’s gone.

Antpelt was by her side, setting a thin paw on her shoulder. His meow was surprisingly gentle. “There’s always a place for you here, you know. With the memories. Wouldn’t that be better than fighting at every turn?”

His touch was cold, sucking the heat out of her pelt. Ivypool had the sudden, sinking realization that she couldn’t fight him, couldn’t find it in her being to see agony screw up his muzzle a third time. How many times do I have to kill this cat before he finds peace?

“We could be Clanmates again,” he pressed. “Don’t you want to go hunting together, like Brokenstar promised we would?”

“I…” Ivypool had forgotten how to speak. She couldn’t even remember how to hunt. The name of her Clan. Was this really a dream, or was she dead? Was it both?

“I thought ThunderClan cats were more stubborn than this.”

It all suddenly snapped back into place, the cool voice ringing in her ears. Antpelt hissed and drew away. Ivypool’s head jerked up.

A golden she-cat sat on a small island, her tail wrapped neatly around her paws. The spotting on her pelt was a pattern she’d never seen in ThunderClan before. The she-cat had a proud, almost blank look to her muzzle.

“Why did you stop fighting?” she asked. “Surely you aren’t planning on just giving up?”

“I’m sorry,” Ivypool meowed in a daze, trying frantically to collect herself. “Do I know you?”

The golden she-cat’s ears pinned back, eyes narrowing almost to slits, lips drawing back to reveal a sharp set of front teeth. “Show some respect. I didn’t come to this dingy place for sass from a cat barely old enough to stumble out of the nursery.”

“Oh. Sorry, Leopardstar. I didn’t recognize you.”

To be fair, it’s not like Ivypool ever got to see her this way. The Leopardstar she’d known was fierce and ambitious, but her body had been declining. She still remembered the way her bones had jutted out of her fur. The only reason Ivypool had been able to place the two as the same warrior was the way her anger flickered in her eyes, the sharp and brutal way she spoke. This was the she-cat Crookedstar had left to lead RiverClan, all right.

Leopardstar accepted this with a nod. “The gift of StarClan is powerful. That creature with you- why are you listening to it?”

Ivypool glanced at Antpelt. The WindClan cat glared at Leopardstar suspiciously. “I owe him that much.”

“You owe him nothing,” she rumbled. “This is not a cat- something to pay respects to. This is simply a bad memory. It can hurt you, but it can’t drag you down unless you stop fighting. Join me on solid ground.”

Ivypool hesitated, then slowly padded forward. Leopardstar stood and moved back to make room for her assent, but when she tried to crawl on Ivypool’s paw went right through.

“I can’t.”

“You don’t believe me, then,” Leopardstar countered. “Fine. I’ll bring you up myself.”

The leader jumped from her perch with a powerful spring, landing beside Ivypool without a splash. The golden she-cat moved to stand between her and Antpelt.

“Is this how you want to be remembered?” Leopardstar demanded. “As the warrior who gave up?”

“What’s the point of fighting if you’ll never win?”

“The point of fighting?” Leopardstar asked. “To feel the fur rip beneath your claws. To bleed. The screech of warriors. The point of fighting isn’t to win- it’s to feel real. This,” she flicked her tail at Antpelt. “Isn’t real. None of this is real.”

Ivypool hesitated “If none of this is real, how do I know you’re any different?”

Leopardstar opened her mouth, seeming to consider her words.

“Leopardstar.”

Neither she-cat jumped, though it took all of Ivypool’s concentration not to. Out of the shadows pitter-pattered a lankly blue tom with torn ears.

“You look like Mistystar,” she said.

“I suppose so,” Leopardstar agreed.

“Thank you.” The tom dipped his head. “I’m Stonefur.”

Suddenly, the leader’s voice turned sharp. “You are a memory of Stonefur. I speak to Stonefur often enough in StarClan to know the difference.”

Stonefur didn’t answer. Antpelt watched them.

Leopardstar turned her back on the gray-blue tom, facing Ivypool with a mildly ruffled air. “Are you really going to abandon your Clan for something like this? This place isn’t worth losing all of that.”

Ivypool turned her mind back to ThunderClan. Her Clan. What would Dovewing say if she knew about all of this? Whitewing? Birchfall?

Antpelt finally stepped forward. “Are you really going to believe the word of the leader who helped Tigerstar?”

“You’ve made a horrible, disgusting mistake,” Leopardstar meowed quietly. “I know how that feels.”

“She killed me,” Stonefur- but not really- growled.

“But this isn’t where it has to end. You can move forward from this.”

“She ruined her Clan.”

“There are cats who love you.”

“You’re better off dead.”

“I need to believe I’m really good.” Leopardstar looked oddly vulnerable to Ivypool. She could count every star in her pelt. “I need you to trust me, or nothing will matter. I’ll have done all of this for nothing.”

The memory of Antpelt, fading and lifeless, stuck her, and continued to strike her even as she stepped forward. Antpelt hadn’t been for nothing. The Great Battle hadn’t been for nothing. “I want to try.”

“Then let’s climb,” Leopardstar grunted, turning to the invisible land, which had stretched into a long cliff. “I’ll start.”

Every ledge was agony. Ivypool felt like her fur was on fire from where it touched the surface. Nevertheless, neither she-cat made a sound.

Ivypool glanced back. Stonefur and Antpelt were staring up at them. Leopardstar crossed the ledge and reached down to pick her up by her scruff.

“You remind me a bit of myself,” she muttered around the fur. “Perhaps a bit too much.”

“And that’s why you came after me?”

“No cat deserves to drown, no matter what Clan they are. Now wake up.”

“I can’t,” she admitted. “Ever since the Dark Forest…”

“I’ll help,” Leopardstar returned, and claws raked down Ivypool’s muzzle.

Ivypool woke up with a tender cut along her face. It was still too early for dawn patrol, and Blossomfall was warm against her side. She slipped out of the warriors den and stared up at the stars until dawn.

#Unfinished Work #Warrior Cats #Ivypool #Antpelt #Leopardstar #Stonefur

[transparenthologramrebel]

Warrior Au chapter three (electric tree)

Chapter 3

Hollyleaf POV

Hollyleaf awoke with a jolt. She gasped for air, her claws digging into her mossy nest. 

“I’m...I’m alright...I’m in the medicine den.” She thought to herself, finally getting her bearings. Jayfeather was no longer beside her, instead the morning light was streaming into her nest. Hollyleaf licked her ruffled fur, trying to shake the dreams from her mind. She felt queasy, unsure...unsteady. Her entire world had changed once more in a single night. Getting up, she stretched her limbs and stuck her head through the hanging moss covering the den’s entrance. 

Thunderclan was once more alive with activity. Cats were working tirelessly once more to clear the destruction left behind by the fire. Across the camp stood Lionblaze,having an argument with Berrynose over something. Hollyleaf felt a cold shudder quake through her body as she looked at her brother. Memories of Lionblaze fighting Tigerstar flooded her mind, for the first time in her life Hollyleaf felt scared of her own brother. Lionblaze had always been the most laid back of his siblings. Jayfeather was always ready to snap the head of any cat that dared to look down on him for his blindness. Hollyleaf shared her brother’s same ferocity when it came to her dedication to the warrior code. Lionblaze never seemed to show the same ferocity as his siblings. He had always seemed to flow like a slow creek. Yet it seemed to all be nothing but a facade now. Lionblaze was a fox wearing a cat’s pelt. 

“We need to talk.” a familiar voice said behind Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf lept, spinning around with her claws out. Jayfeather stood behind her. His light blue eyes were dark with worry. 

“Jayfeather you nearly scared my fur off!” Hollyleaf snapped. Her brother flicked his ears in annoyance.

“You’re jumpy this morning.” he huffed. Hollyleaf lashed her tail. 

“Says the cat who creeped up on me.” Jayfeather rolled his eyes.

“Come on, we need to speak to Lionblaze.” Hollyleaf in front of him before he was able to leave the den.

“Wait, we need to talk. I had a dream last night, it was a sign from Starclan and...I saw something...about Lionblaze.” Jayfeather bared his teeth and pinned his ears back with a huff. 

“Of course they spoke to you! Mouse brains...can even bother to share the message with all three of us. Come on, we need to get Lionblaze.” he hissed. Hollyleaf’s ears flicked nervously. Should she tell Jayfeather first about what she saw? Or should they confront him together. She battled internally for a moment, before deciding that it would be better if they spoke all together. 

“Lionblaze, Hollyleaf and I want to share a squirrel,” Jayfeather lied as they approached their brother. Lionblaze blinked in relief at his siblings.

“Tell Spiderleg that you and him can gather the branches yourselves. You don’t need me.” He sipped at Berrynose. Berrynose bared his teeth, lashing his stubby tail. 

“Fine, but I’m telling Brambleclaw about this later!” He huffed, walking off. Lionblaze rolled his eyes.

“You do that,” Lionblaze grumbled, before turning to his siblings. “Thank you for saving me from that annoying mouse brain. I dragged branches to camp yesterday for the apprentices den. Brambleclaw told me I didn’t have to today.” 

“Forget about Berrynose, we have bigger problems.” Jayfeather said quickly as the siblings walked through the camp. The Three slipped into a hidden cave behind the medicine den. It was small and cramped, but it was the only place they could talk privately.

“So which one of us should go first?” Hollyleaf asked, sitting down wrapping her tail around her paws nervously. Jayfeather laid down, his tail lashing nervously against the dirt.

“I spoke to Ashfur in his dreams last night. He won’t back down...he plans on revealing the secret at the next gathering.” Jayfeather hissed quietly, his body tense. Hollyleaf felt all the air in her lungs disappear. 

“He plans to do what?” Lionblaze gasped. 

“He can’t! We’ll be chased out of the clans!” Hollyleaf wailed. Terror swept through her body, her mind unable to comprehend what she had just heard. Jayfeather flicked his tail to hush his siblings. 

“We’ll find a way to keep him quiet. Perhaps we should tell Squirrelflight his plan. She might be able to stop him. “ Jayfeather suggested. Lionblaze scoffed. 

“Like how she talked him out of killing us on the cliff?” he snarled. Jayfeather glared at his brother. 

“It might be our best chance. He only tried to kill us because of their history together.”

“I would rather never speak to Squirrelflight ever again…” Hollyleaf growled.

“Then I’ll do it since you two won’t!” Jayfeather growled, leaping to his feet. The fur along his spine bristled. Hollyleaf sighed heavily, her ears falling down against her head. Maybe he was right. After all, Squrrielflight had kept Ashfur from killing them that night, yet she only did through giving him a more powerful weapon than the fire. The thought of that night and even seeing her former mother made her fur crawl. 

“I guess we don’t have any other options.” Lionblaze’s voice finally broke the silence between the three. “We’ll all talk to her, Hollyleaf you’re coming with us we need every chance to stop Ashfur.”

Hollyleaf lashed her tail, she would rather be attacked by a badger than speak with Squirrelflight.

“Fine I will.” the words fell from her mouth, but they felt hollow and meaningless.  

“Good, we'll speak to her after we’re done here. Hollyleaf tell us about your dream and what Starclan told you.” Jayfeather said firmly.

“Starclan spoke to you?” Lionblaze sounded surprised. Hollyleaf lashed her tail.

“They did. I spoke to Yellowfang and she told me that we are the three.” she began to explain. Jayfeather and Lionblaze’s eyes lit up.

“We are the three! I knew it!” Lionblaze cheered excitedly. 

“I never had any doubt.” Jayfeather purred slightly. 

“She told me the time for secrets is over and I fully agree with her. So Lionblaze tell me why you were fighting with Tigerstar, why did he say you should train like the old times?” Hollyleaf hissed, judgement leaking out of her words. Lionblaze froze, his body stiffened, eyes widened. 

“You...you saw that.” his voice was barely a whisper.

“You were in the dark forest?” Jayfeather cried. Hollyleaf spun around. 

“You know about that place!?” she cried. Jayfeather nodded.

“It’s where cats like Tigerstar go when they die, when Starclan rejects them.” Hollyleaf couldn’t believe her ears. Both of her brothers knew about this place and never bothered to tell her! Anger swelled in her belly making her claws itch.

“I can’t believe you both never told me! Don’t you think it was important for the third cat in the prophecy to know about this!?” She yowled angrily. Jayfeather narrowed his eyes and looked away, while LIonblaze looked at his paws. 

“It didn’t seem important at the time.” Jayfeather murmured. Hollyleaf lashed her bristled tail. 

“So Squirrelflight isn’t the only cat keeping secrets in this family! Lionblaze, what were you doing with Tigerstar!” she demanded, her teeth bared at her golden brother. Lionblaze shut his eyes tightly, Hollyleaf could almost see the shame falling off his pelt in waves.

“He..he helped me when I was an apprentice. When I spent a lot of time with Heatherpaw I fell behind in my training. Tigerstar and Hawkfrost helped me pick up the slack. They trained with me in the dark forest in my dreams.” Lionblaze confessed.  Hollyleaf felt her fur burn hot with anger. 

“ Lionblaze, what were you thinking! You were training with the forest's greatest enemies and thought nothing of it! You’re a traitor to the code and the clan!” Lionblaze rounded on his sister at once.

“I am not a traitor! I stopped training with them a long time ago! I was a foolish apprentice, I wish I could take it back but I can’t! Don’t you dare call me a traitor. I would lay my life down for Thunderclan!” he screeched back. The two siblings stood with their haunches up, fur fluffed and teeth bared looking ready to attack one another. The tension was only cut when Jayfeather placed his tail between the two.

“Enough this is getting us nowhere. We can argue with Lionblaze all day about what he should have done, but we have bigger problems right now. However, you should have told us Lionblaze...Tigerstar...we all know the stories about him. You should have never walked with them.” Jayfeather said sternly.

Hollyleaf dug her claws into the dirt, trying to quell her fury. She felt herself choking on all the lies and secrets. Was her entire family just full of liars and code breakers? Her head buzzed like a bee hive. This was all just too much.  Lionblaze drew in a deep breath, sighing. 

“I know...you’re right. If I could take it back I would. I’m sorry for never telling you two. No more secrets between the three of us.” Lionblaze said, licking his fluffed fur down. Jayfeather nodded, laying his tail on his sister a clear signal for her to agree.

“Fine.” Hollyleaf choked out. “Do you think Brambleclaw trained there as well?” She muttered. LionBlaze’s eyes widened.

“He must have if Ashfur was right! Oh great Starclan!” he gasped. 

“Don’t worry about Brambleclaw right now! We need to stop Ashfur first, before we worry about everything else!” Jayfeather hissed. Both Lionblaze and Hollyleaf snapped their attention back to Jayfeather.

“Sorry.” they both murmured. Jayfeather twitched an ear in acknowledgement. 

“Good. Now we have to talk to Squirrelflight and hope that she can change Ashfur’s mind...if she can’t...we should prepare for the worst.” He explained. Hollyleaf flexed her claws.

“As if I will let that fox heart ruin all of my plans! I will be Thunderclan’s future leader. I will leave my paw prints on every cat and clan in the forest! He won’t stop me!” Hollyleaf growled in her mind. 

“Come on, we should talk to her right away. The gathering is only two sunrises away.” Lioblaze said, starting to squeeze through the entrance of their hideaway. Jayfeather followed after him, but Hollyleaf lagged behind. The weight of Lionblaze and Jayfeather’s confession about the dark forest weighed heavily on her mind. They had kept it from her for so long, because it hadn’t seemed important at the time. Never in her life had Hollyleaf felt so distant from her brothers. 

#warrior au #warriors ashfur #warriors squirrelflight #ashfur #squrrielflight #brambleclaw #Lionblaze #hollyleaf #jayfeather #sorry this took so long i am very busy

[fan-clan-fun]

So you want to Build a Clan?- Part 7: Religion

Going on a quick side mission because I feel like religion impacts culture so I'm gonna do that then go back to culture.

Part of what makes warriors, well, warriors, is the presence of Starclan as an organized religious entity. And although most  of us can agree that Canon seriously struggles to stick to a consistent portrayal of them, without Starclan, or at least the belief in it, the clans wouldn't be really as unique as they are. So discussing Starclan and religion is important when looking into how your clan works. In this segment I'll talk about Starclan and religion and how to work out a religion that is ingrained into your clans.

Foundation

Something which is important to consider, and why I chose to discuss this before I  discussed more culture, is that religion shapes how a clan thinks and believes. What a lit is taught and embraces shapes the most basic of thoughts, beliefs and understandings. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with canons portrayal of Starclan. It's there, sure, and powerful, but what role does it actually play in the lives of clan cats? How could Mothwing possibly be an atheist when cats literally materialize to fight? It's inconsistent, with very little foundation, and barely seems to affect the clans at all.

A true complete religion would involve a lot more pervasive thought processes. For example, I would argue that Canon should treat death differently, since cats clearly have an afterlife, and even can interact with it. While it would be sad, the clan cats would look to it with hope. Their elderly parents would finally be able to live freely, their kits would live forever in the prime of youth, their apprentice gets a second chance. But Canon doesn't really do that. Of course Canon is a mess no maybe we shouldn't focus on that.

Anyway. So when you are building your religion, remember to figure out how it fits into their every day lives.

What are the virtues they most strongly follow?

Where do they get them within the religion?

What is their view on the afterlife?

Is there a duality to the afterlife? (I e heaven and hell)

Are there any rewards in the afterlife? Is there an afterlife?

How does their religious beliefs fit into their every day lives?

Does the religion instruct them to act in any certain way, or treat others or themselves in any specific way?

Is there an emphasis on fate or personal choices/responsibility?

Is faith personal or communal? ( Do they gather together to worship or worship alone in their own way)

What is considered appropriate worship?

Are there any words or ceremonies tied to their religion?  (This is important for naming as well)

Do all clans believe the same thing? Are there small differences in beliefs or in practice? (these can be as small as how to pray, looking up how different sects or parts of bigger religions do a same big ceremony but different in small ways, use that to formulate differences in beliefs and ritual for the clans)

Are there any major things it belief on which all clans agree or disagree?

Some of these questions may require information from a further section, but having them in mind as you build your religion is a good idea.

Starclan

In Canon, Starclan is the symbol of the religion of the clans, but in truth it is barely defined. No one is quite sure what powers they possess. Can they see the future? Where do the prophecies come from? How do they interact with cats?

There are plenty of things about Starclan which are interesting, and therefore could be used, but the most important thing with Starclan is to very starkly define, even if it's only for yourself as the writer, who they are and what they can do.

I've written several versions of Starclan in the past, from a Starclan who transcends time and can therefore see the many paths which they can encourage or discourage the clan from pursuing, to a Starclan that recognizes patterns, can sense a cats deepest desire and so can guess when a cat may go down a dark path. There are so many ways to write Starclan.

How you write Starclan and what powers you give them also affects what you can do plot wise. What bothered me most about Power of Three and Omen of the Stars, was that there was no explanation, no basis for cats suddenly having powers. They also suddenly introduced the concept of the Dark Forest and expected people to just naturally accept it. But if you build Starclan up from the very to have certain abilities and powers, who’s to say they can't bestow a gift to the clans? The key to making your Starclan believable is consistency,  and being very specific about what Starclan can and can't do.

It might be good to take a look at how certain cultures do ancestor worship. Why that is a part of their culture. Originally that seems to have been the point of Starclan, or I'm guessing, and so looking at how, say certain Native American tribes, versus Chinese ancestor worship works might give some insight into that kind of culture.

First of all, it is best to figure out how Starclan came to be.

Why did cats who were dying suddenly retain the ability to maintain their consciousness?

When did this happen?

How do spirits work? Is it attached to sentience, or do other creatures besides cats have their own afterlife?

What is this afterlife that Starclan lives in like?

Is reincarnation a thing?

How long do Starclan cats last, can they “die”?

How do they communicate with the living?

Do they have any power to influence/see the future?

Can they give a leader nine lives/how does that work?

What separates them from the living? Are they on a different plane of existence?

What qualifies a cat for being eligible to go to Starclan (ie do all cats go to Starclan? Do non clan cats have an afterlife?)

Are there cats who can be more sensitive to Starclan/spiritual energies?

How does rank work in Starclan? Is there a hierarchy?

Is it important for Starclan that cats be remembered?

Are names given certain status in Starclan or the clans? (Ie does remembering some cats name affect their existence?)

Do cats who have been evil have their names erased or forgotten?

How do the clans remember their past?

Are family members encouraged to pray to, or worship their immediate ancestors and family members in Starclan? If so, how?

Are names passed down in a family said to have greater meaning/power?

All of these aspects will help to make your Starclan more whole and solid. Of course you can always go the opposite direction, which some people prefer, to have Starclan not actually exist but be a fake hoax or religion.

Deities

Another thing which can be used to add more to the story, are deities. Deities can help very conveniently explain where Starclan came from, and there are plenty of fanfic writers out there who have already made use of this and come up with interesting and wonderful narratives.

In any case, deities are the foundation for many, if not most, religions. They serve the purpose of explaining that which humanity cannot explain, of giving a human aspect to that which is inhuman. They embody the power of nature, the mysteries of human emotion and ideals.

You can choose whether or not to have deities for your clans, I often don't, usually explaining my worldbuilding in other ways. But it's always useful to discuss all the possibilities.

If you do decide to have deities, you have several paths to take.

Monotheistic: This is the path where there is one single deity who created the world. It's not as popular in the  warriors fandom, so I don't really have much to say about it. While it offers a very deep and ingrained understanding of religion, it also is very black and white, you either believe or you don't, and the power is either clear and explicit, or not there at all, there's not really an easy way to he ambiguous. For this kind of world, the deity is that which created everything and is the ultimate power who sees and knows everything. How much they involve themselves or grant power to others is up to you.

Great Mother: I suppose this might count as a monotheistic approach, but it is such a distinct subset that I thought it best to address it alone. This is, along with polytheistic approach, the most popular in the warriors fandom, because it resonates so deeply with cats and their likely culture. Motherhood and mothers are essential to life. This also allows for a great mother deity who passed on her power to lesser beings, either more deities or simply animals and other creatures. It reinforces the idea that life comes from mothers and gives them better respect and status.

Dualistic: This is a setting where you have two major opposing forces such Good and Evil, Order and Chaos, Death and Life, light and dark etc. It can make for very interesting contrasts and conflicts. However it does often make for stark lines between positive and negative forces, not as much room for gray areas there, though it's not impossible to create them. It's important when creating these sorts of deities that you have two opposing forces, neither of then have to be inherently good per se, but they must be completely opposed to each other and have far reaching implications.

Pantheistic: This is the path where everything is a part of one thing such as nature or just general life force. I have used this approach before in one set of clans, and how Starclan separated themselves from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth made them unique. In any case, this is more holistic viewpoint. Everything is one, and one is everything. In this setting it is likely that life is held with great reverence and nature is worshipped.

Polytheistic: this is one of the most popular approaches for religion, besides the one where there is no specific deity. It's honestly one of the most fun ones as well. Having multiple deities is fun to play around with, and the stories and myths that are passed on to the clans are extra entertaining.

There are plenty of polytheistic religions out there, though likely the most well known are the Greek/Roman and Nordic pantheons. These are the ones who get up to plenty of shenanigans amongst themselves and humanity.

Unfortunately when the time comes to create a pantheon it can be a daunting task. I have my own take on a pantheon here, and it definitely took effort. Thankfully there  are a few broad paths you can take.

A deity for each virtue (and maybe vice) which the clans consider important and part of their code..

A deity for every rank in the clan, honoring the work and movement through life of the clan.

Deities for every small place and thing ( biiiig pantheon, maybe some deities appear as other animals, demand respect for what they represent)

Deities for the skills which are considered important for the clan ( a way to tie in traditional naming? Suffixes came to be as cats emulating the deities of those skills)

Deities of different aspects of nature, sun, moon, plants and growing things, storms, other natural disasters

Elemental pantheon, with aspects of water, and earth, and air, and fire and any other elements that might do well to be included.

In any case there are lots of options to choose from. Here are a few questions to flesh some of those paths out with detail.

Do deities actually exist or are they just creations of the clans collective imagination?

Which deity is considered the most powerful?

Are any deities related? If so how do they interact? And how are they related?

Are there any rivalries between deities, and do these affect the clans in any way? ( Think stuff like Trojan war which directly involved deities meddling and causing chaos)

How much power do deities have? How do they use/give away this power? (Can they maybe give their power to cats like in the Power of three?)

Do demigods exist? (Ie is there a Zeus god with like a bazillion half deity half cat babies running around)

Can deities be killed?

Do deities directly influence the world? (Like if a deity gets angry can they unleash their anger on the clans?)

How do the deities connect with Starclan? (We're they involved in creating Starclan, or are they completely separate, or something else?)

Now that you have a decent idea of how your religion works (I hope) we can go back to looking at how culture is affected by the religion of the clan in their ceremonies and rituals.

#warriorsworldbuilding #starclan #warriors #warriorscats #buildaclan

[thunders-warcats-stuff]

Enter Darkness Chapter 16

Bluestar was right; Greypaw and Ravenpaw were both waiting for him by their favorite tree stump. Greypaw looked stiff and uncomfortable, his long fur clumped by the dampness of the air. Ravenpaw was pacing around the tree stump, lost in thought, the white tip of his tail twitching.

“So, you’re joining us today!” Greypaw called as Firepaw approached. “Some day, huh?” He shook himself roughly to get rid of the clinging wetness.

“Yes. Bluestar told me that Tigerclaw is going to assess us today. Are Sandpaw and Dustpaw coming too?”

“Whitestorm and Darkstripe took them out on warrior patrol. I suppose Tigerclaw is going to look at them later,” Greypaw answered.

“Come on! We should get going,” urged Ravenpaw. He had stopped pacing and now hovered beside them anxiously.

“Fine by me,” mewed Greypaw. “Hopefully some exercise will warm me up a bit!”

The three cats trotted through the gorse track and out of the camp. They hurried to the sandy hollow. Tigerclaw had not arrived, so they hung around in the shelter of a pine tree, their fur fluffed up against the chill.

“Are you worried about the assessment?” Firepaw asked Ravenpaw, as the young cat padded backward and forward with quick, nervous pawsteps. “There’s no need to be. You’re Tigerclaw’s apprentice, after all. When he reports back to Bluestar, he’s going to want to tell her how good you are.”

“You can never tell with Tigerclaw,” mewed Ravenpaw, still pacing. “For StarClan’s sake, sit down,” Greypaw grumbled. “At this rate you’ll be worn out before we begin!”

By the time Tigerclaw arrived, the sky had changed. The clouds looked less like thick gray fur, and more like the soft white balls of down that queens used to line the nests of their newborns. Blue skies couldn’t be far behind, but the breeze that brought the softer clouds carried a fresh chill.

Tigerclaw greeted them briskly and launched straight into the exercise details. “Lionheart and I have spent the last few weeks trying to teach you how to hunt decently,” he meowed. “Today you’ll have a chance to show me how much you’ve learned. Each of you will take a different route and hunt as much prey as possible, and whatever you catch will be added to the supplies in the camp.”

The three apprentices looked at one another, nervous and excited. Firepaw felt his heart beat faster at the prospect of a challenge.

“Ravenpaw, you will follow the trail beyond the Great Sycamore as far as the Snakerocks. That should be easy enough for your pitiful skills. You, Greypaw,” Tigerclaw continued, “will take the route along the stream, as far as the Thunderpath.”

“Great,” scowled Greypaw. “Wet paws for me!” Tigerclaw’s stare silenced him. “And finally you, Firepaw. What a shame your great mentor couldn’t be here today to witness your performance for herself.” He grumbled. “You shall take the route through the Tallpines, past the Treecut place, to the woods beyond.” Firepaw nodded, frantically tracing the route in his head.

“And remember,” Tigerclaw finished, fixing them all with his pale-eyed stare, “I’ll be watching all of you.”

Ravenpaw was the first to sprint away toward the Snakerocks. Tigerclaw took a different track into the woods, leaving Greypaw and Firepaw alone in the hollow, trying to guess who Tigerclaw would follow first.

“I don’t know why he thinks Snakerocks is an easy route!” snorted Greypaw. “The place is crawling with adders. Birds and mice stay away from there because there are so many snakes!”

“Ravenpaw’ll have to spend his whole time trying not to get bitten,” Firepaw agreed worriedly.

“Oh, he’ll be okay,” scoffed Greypaw. “Not even an adder would be fast enough to catch Ravenpaw at the moment, he’s so jumpy. I’d better get going. See you back here later on. Good luck!”

Greypaw raced off toward the stream. Firepaw paused to sniff the air, then bounded up the side of the hollow and began to head for the Tallpines. It felt strange to be going in this direction, toward the Twoleg place he had been raised in. Cautiously Firepaw crossed the narrow path into the pine forest. He looked through the straight rows of trees, across the flat forest floor, alert for the sight and scent of prey.

A movement caught his eye. It was a mouse, scrabbling through the pine needles. Remembering his first lesson, Firepaw dropped into the stalking position, keeping his weight in his haunches, his paws light on the ground. The technique worked perfectly. The mouse didn’t detect Firepaw until his final leap. He caught it with one paw and killed it swiftly. Then he buried it, so that he could pick it up on his return journey.

Firepaw traveled a little farther into the Tallpines. The ground here was deeply rutted by the tracks of the huge Twoleg monster that tore down the trees. Firepaw took a deep breath, his mouth open. The monster’s acid breath had not touched the air here for a while. Firepaw followed the deep tracks, jumping across the ruts. They were half-filled with rain, which made him feel thirsty. He was tempted to stop and take a few mouthfuls, but he hesitated. One lap of that muddy trench water and he’d taste the monster’s foul-smelling tracks for days.

He decided to wait. Perhaps there would be a rainwater puddle beyond the Tallpines. He hurried onward through the trees and crossed the Twoleg path on the far boundary.

He was back amid the thick undergrowth of oak woods. He moved onward until he found a puddle and lapped up a few mouthfuls of the fresh water. Firepaw’s fur began to prickle with some extra awareness. 

He recognized sounds and scents familiar from his old watching place on the fence post, and knew instantly where he was. These were the woods that bordered the Twolegplace. He must be very close to his old home now.

Ahead Firepaw could smell Twolegs and hear their voices, loud and raucous like crows. It was a group of young Twolegs, playing in the woods. Firepaw crouched and peered ahead through the ferns. The sounds were distant enough to be safe. 

He changed direction, skirting the noises and making sure he wasn't seen. Firepaw stayed alert and watchful, but not just for Twolegs—Tigerclaw might be somewhere nearby. He thought he heard a twig snap in the bushes behind him. He sniffed the air, but smelled nothing new.

Was he being watched now? he wondered.

Out of the corner of his eye, Firepaw sensed movement. At first he thought it was Tigerclaw’s dark brown fur, but then he saw a flash of white. He stopped, crouched, and inhaled deeply. The smell was unfamiliar; it was a cat, but not a ThunderClan cat. Firepaw felt his fur bristle. He was more than willing to chase an intruder out!

Firepaw watched the creature moving through the undergrowth. He could see its outline clearly as the newcomer skittered between the ferns. Firepaw waited for him to wander nearer. He crouched lower, ginger tail waving back and forth in slow rhythm. As the black-and-white cat neared, Firepaw rocked his haunches from side to side as he prepared to spring. One more heartbeat; then he leaped. The black-and-white cat jumped into the air, terrified, and raced away through the trees. Firepaw gave chase.

It’s a kittypet! He snorted as he raced through the undergrowth, smelling its fear-scent.

He was closing in rapidly on the fleeing feline, who had slowed their headlong rush, preparing to scramble up the wide, mossy trunk of a fallen tree. With blood roaring in his ears, Firepaw leaped onto their back in a single bound. Firepaw could feel the cat struggling beneath him as the intruder let out a desperate and terrified yowl.

Firepaw released his grip and backed away. The black-and-white cat cringed at the foot of the fallen tree, trembling, and looked up at him. Firepaw snorted. This soft, plump house cat, with its round eyes and narrow face, looked very different from the lean, broad-headed cats Firepaw lived with now. And yet something about this cat seemed familiar.

Firepaw stared harder. He sniffed, drawing in the other cat’s scent. I barely recognize the smell, he thought, searching his memory.

Then it came to him.

“Smudge?!” he meowed out loud.

“H-ho-how d-d-do you know my n-name?” stammered Smudge, still crouching.

“I'm sorry, old friend. I told you once that I would never forget you.” Firepaw meowed.

The house cat looked confused.

“I went by Rusty once. We were kittens together. I lived in the garden next to you!” Firepaw reminded him. The black-and-white tom scowled.

“You're far too skinny to be Rusty. And you changed your name? I reckon you found those wildcats, then.”

“I sure did.” Firepaw purred. “And they named me after my-.” He went still. Tigerclaw? Or prey?

Tigerclaw wouldn't let himself be heard.

Sure enough, a squirrel was about to climb a tree. Firepaw crouched and crept toward it, leaping to stun it before delivering a nip to the back of its neck. He thanked StarClan for the prey and buried his catch by the tree.

“Wow.” Smudge breathed. “You're really one of them.” He murmured. Firepaw nodded.

“I am. And I'm called Firepaw.”

“For your pelt. That's cool! I bet you're pretty useful in the fall. Everything's orange in the forest.”

Smudge hadn't noticed, but both he and Firepaw lowered their voices. Firepaw intentionally and Smudge unconsciously.

“I haven't been here that long, old friend. It really is good to see you well, but you can't come here anymore. This is wildcat territory, and if someone catches you when I'm not here, you'll get shredded worse than I’d ever dare.”

Smudge nodded.

“I'll tell the other housecats about the forest. I'm glad you like it here, Rusty. You always were pretty wild.”

“Have a good life, Smudge. Make some new friends.”

The two toms nodded at each other and Firepaw waited until the black-and-white tom was back on a fence before he dug up his squirrel and moved on. Now he just had to catch more prey and this would be the best day ever!

#spoilers for all books prior to The Last Hope #Back Into The Wild #Firestar #Greystripe #Ravenpaw #Smudge #Tigerclaw #hunting patrol #warrior cats #warrior cats just a dream enter darkness