#well... at least on fireheart's side

[fireual]

it's kinda crazy to me that nobody ever talks about this because fireheart straight-up admits he loved graystripe more than silverstream did. like???? its not even subtle he just admits it. he's GAY they're GAY

#firestar #fireheart #graystripe #firegray #grayfire #warrior cats #its an unrefutable fact. grayfire is canon. #well... at least on fireheart's side #poor guy

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter Three

(AO3 counterpart here.)

“Yeesh.”

“Yeah.”

Greystripe shuddered and squinted in the direction of the distant Fourtrees, like he could see the dogs coming already. “One thing after another, huh? You think they’ll show up here?”

“I hope not, but…” Ravenwing shook some soil off his paw. “I don’t trust our luck. Nor do I trust those dogs.”

Fireheart stretched out, the early evening warmth still permeating the ground under him, which he knew to appreciate before he lost it by the time the moon was fully up. Greystripe had been asleep when the Gathering party had returned home last night, and Fireheart had insisted on not waking him up with such grave news as the leaders had given. Ravenwing had complied, but roused his friends early this evening for a “hunting patrol”, which was really an excuse to walk in the woods while they still had that freedom. Whatever Bluestar was thinking about the warning from Rookstar, she hadn’t said, but by the time everyone turned in for sleep, common opinion was near-certain she would restrict wandering about in the forest alone or in a small group. Just for safety, obviously, not that the reason made it any more fun.

“It’s the fact that we don’t have any information at all that bugs me,” Ravenwing continued. “There’s more than one, and that’s it. That’s all we know.”

“That’s at least something, isn’t it?” Fireheart asked, trying to sound hopeful and probably not doing a good job. “We know to watch out for several dogs.”

Ravenwing shook his head. “I mean, sure, but we’ll live with the uncertainty that, if one or more go away for whatever reason, we don’t know if all of them left, or just some. Two could leave, but then another one from the pack shows up when we don’t expect it, and we’re feather-plucked.”

“One thing at a time.” Greystripe lifted a paw and lowered it in a “settle down” gesture. “They’re probably still near WindClan territory. ThunderClan just needs to form a plan while we can.” He paused. “Whatever that plan may be.”

“And maybe humans will catch them first,” Fireheart added. “Anything could happen.”

Ravenwing, sitting up while the others were reclining, kneaded the ground and grimaced at the marks his claws were making, muttering, “We still ought to err on the side of pessimism.”

Neither Greystripe nor Fireheart responded to this. Fireheart instead swiveled his ears this way and that, keen on any small noise he could detect, just in case pessimism was warranted. All he got was a familiar, rushing rumble on the edge of his hearing.

“Hey, you can hear the river from here,” he remarked cheerfully. “It really got filled up from all that rain, didn’t it? Even though it’s been so dry this month, it’s still loud.”

Ravenwing slowly lifted his head and mimicked Fireheart’s ears, pulling himself out of his dour mood. “Huh. You can.”

Fireheart looked over at Greystripe, who had his ears turned as well, but more bittersweetly back than curiously pivoted towards the direction of the distant river. His eyes were half-shut with grieving affection.

“You know…” he said after a moment. “She never found a nickname for me.”

Ravenwing’s tail went stiff. Fireheart sadly sighed under his breath.

“Just a little bit of a bummer.” Greystripe’s head turned round to where the river sang. “It’d be nice to have at least that, you know? Something tangible to remember her by.” He made an attempt at an amused snort that came out more as a limp huff. “I mean, something tangible in this Clan.”

Fireheart didn’t say anything, but his mind soared over the river and went straight into whatever RiverClan had as a nursery, where a litter of grey kits nursed at a belly that wasn’t their mother’s. How much did they look like Greystripe now?

Ravenwing sank onto his belly, looking a bit queasy. He murmured something, seemingly to himself.

“What?” Fireheart tilted his head.

“Nevermind,” Ravenwing said, jerking his head up. “Just. Thinking.”

A memory shouldered its way into the forefront of Fireheart’s mind. In a bid to change the mood, he said to Ravenwing, “Well, at least you never had to learn that lesson the hard way, right?”

The mood changed indeed—Ravenwing flinched and stammered, “Are yo– don’t bring up that whole thing! It’s not the same!”

Greystripe looked back at them, frowning. “What’s not the same?”

Fireheart almost leapt to his feet, instantly eager at this chance of merriment. “Oh, it’s—” He looked at Ravenwing, who was burying his face in his paws. “Can I tell him?”

“Go ahead,” Ravenwing grumbled.

Immediately, Fireheart turned back to Greystripe, tail dancing in delight. “Ravenwing likes Wrenwhisker, and he overheard us talking about it at that one Gathering while we were still fighting, and he winked at Ravenwing and walked off.”

“You—” Greystripe almost coughed out a halting chuff of disbelief. “Excuse me? You—”

“It’s not him specifically!” Ravenwing blurted in protest. Then his voice dropped to a mumble. “It’s all WindClan toms.”

Greystripe’s face was unsure whether to be outraged or highly amused. “And you yelled at me!”

“That’s what I said!” Fireheart near-trilled.

Greystripe shook his head, his eyes bright and amazed. “I cannot believe the hypocrisy.”

“I didn’t go after anyone, Greystripe,” Ravenwing said hotly. “I can appreciate from a distance! Wasn’t I just appreciating, Fireheart?”

Fireheart’s eyes were almost squeezed shut as he beamed at Ravenwing, putting on an airy voice. “You certainly could have done the exact same thing as Greystripe instead, I suppose.”

“Okay—” Greystripe lifted his tail for silence, visibly struggling to decide what thing to dunk on Ravenwing for first. “For one—for one—you have the audacity to fancy an entire Clan of toms and then get mad at me for picking one molly across the river. For two…” He tilted his head and squinted at Ravenwing, snorting. “WindClan? Are you serious? Have you seen those cats?”

“Yes!” Ravenwing glared at him with no severity. “Have you?”

“Look, I could get, like, RiverClan—”

“Yeah, you could,” Ravenwing muttered.

“Shut up,” said Greystripe. “I could get RiverClan, but WindClan is literally the least attractive set of cats in the territories. Their faces are weird—”

“They have handsome faces!”

“With those dog-eyes and long noses?!”

“Yes!”

“How in—” Greystripe shook his head again. “You are out of your mind.”

“They’ve got a unique beauty to them!” Ravenwing looked to Fireheart now. “Come on. Aren’t they handsome?”

Fireheart rolled a shoulder. “Well, I think everyone’s got their own flavor of beauty, no matter where they come from.”

“Why are you asking him?” Greystripe said to Ravenwing with a chortle. “You know he’s never looked twice at any cat at all, much less appraised their appearance.”

“He can still have standards,” Ravenwing sniffed.

“My standards are that everyone’s got something,” Fireheart said when the bigger toms looked at him. “I mean, we all look good to someone, right? Isn’t that how it goes?”

“I will catch you every single mole in this forest if you can point out a cat that thinks Yellowfang looks good,” Greystripe said.

“Or Darkstripe,” Ravenwing added sourly.

“Darkstripe’s ugly is from the inside, it just came out in his face.” Greystripe squinted in amusement. “Honestly, I don’t know how anyone born from Patchpelt could have that hideous of a personality.”

Fireheart blinked. “Wait, he’s Patchpelt’s son?” He looked at Ravenwing. “Your grandpa? Then he’s…”

“My uncle,” Ravenwing finished. He scowled. “I try not to think about it.”

“Wow.” Fireheart nearly cuffed his own ear in admonishment. “How did I never find this out? I’ve been here for, like, over a year now, and I never knew!”

Greystripe leaned a little his way, speaking in a conspiratorial voice that was poorly hiding its humor. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Darkstripe is kind of a slitprick.”

“Greystripe!” Fireheart mimed cuffing his friend’s too-far-away ear instead. “That’s not nice!”

All he got was a chuff in response. “Neither is Darkstripe. Would you want to acknowledge that you’re related to him?”

“Not in thlain* years,” Ravenwing said, still scowling. “And if he doesn’t want to acknowledge us, that’s fine by me. I have pampam** and that’s all I need.”

“Well…” Fireheart mulled over this for a moment. “It’s still sad for family not to feel like family.”

“Not with that piece of—” Ravenwing started, and abruptly jerked his head back and scrubbed at his muzzle like there was dirt on it. “Nevermind.”

Greystripe leaned forward with an expression similar to Yellowfang’s frog-like grin. “No, no, go on. What is he a piece of?”

“Forget it.” Ravenwing tucked his paws under his body. “Fireheart’s here.”

“Are you afraid to sully his innocent ears?”

“No, but he’ll scold me.” The black tom narrowed his eyes. “I’ve got a worse name for him than you do.”

Fireheart regarded Ravenwing with amazement. “You are just full of surprises today. Are you going to tell me you secretly have crow-wings next?”

Ravenwing swiped dust at Fireheart with his long tail. Fireheart sneezed a chuff, and the trio fell into a comfortable silence as the moon’s rising slowly reclaimed the warmth of the ground.

---

They couldn’t stay out forever; eventually the cold ground got to them and they rose, returning home with a couple mice they had caught along the way. Whitecloud was leaving Bluestar’s den when they reached the entrance of camp and greeted them with a nod.

“It isn’t much,” Ravenwing said, his mouse dangling from his mouth by its tail, forcing him to talk through clenched teeth. “We just went out for a walk.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Whitecloud said with a slow blink. “We’ll be alright for a night. Perhaps bring that to Brindleface, she was hungry earlier.”

Something in his usually-warm yellow eyes seemed to be… missing. Fireheart, not carrying any prey, paused in his walking just before reaching the tunnel. Greystripe looked back at him questioningly and Fireheart silently nodded for him to keep going. Obediently, the hulking grey tom turned forward again and followed Ravenwing.

Whitecloud was watching Greystripe and his former apprentice disappear. It took a long moment for him to realize Fireheart was watching him. He turned and looked down at him, eyes falsely creased. “How can I help you?”

Fireheart tilted his head, concerned. “Are you okay?”

The tall tom, just for an instant, seemed to shrink at the question, before recovering quickly and purring. “I’m fine, Fireheart. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Liar, Fireheart thought, but he played it carefully; he glanced at the lichen in front of the leader’s den, just past Whitecloud, and then back to him. He lowered his voice. “Is Bluestar okay, then?”

To his relief, Whitecloud didn’t brush this off. He, too, looked back at Bluestar’s den, sighed and lowered his angular head to speak quietly to Fireheart.

“Physically, yes, she’s okay,” he murmured. He paused. “Mentally… mentally, I’m not so sure.”

Something in Fireheart’s mind iced over, but he stayed calm. “Everything that happened really did get to her, didn’t it?”

“It did.” Whitecloud sighed. “But I worry that it affected her in a different way. Has she… has she sounded alright, to you? No slurred words or strange things she’s said?”

Fireheart blinked, confused. “She’s been fine. Maybe a little terse, but that’s about it. Why would she…?”

He trailed off at the sight of something invisible lifting itself off of Whitecloud’s back, settling his spine into a slouch. “Good. Good. It’s just that…” He drew in a breath and held it for a long moment before exhaling his next sentence. “I don’t know if she ever told you about Gooseleaf. Her uncle.”

Fireheart shook his head.

“He was unwell,” Whitecloud said quietly. “Hallucinated, had mood-swings. He was lucky enough to make it to the seer position, where StarClan could take care of him and speak to him in a way he’d understand. But he was paranoid and easily frightened, and he saw things that StarClan certainly didn’t send to him. I don’t remember much of him beyond being told not to say anything that could set him off.”

Fireheart felt his face fall. “That’s sad. Poor tom.”

Whitecloud shut his eyes. “Indeed. But he wasn’t the only one in our family that had struggles only found in their head. Bluestar’s grandmother, I was told, lived a long time, and when her mate died, she slowly became confused and distressed, asking where cats were that had died before she was an apprentice. She was made an elder early to keep her safe, because she wandered into the forest alone and approached a badger cub thinking it was one of her kits. The real mother nearly killed her.”

Fireheart nodded for him to continue, the ice reaching his stomach.

“I just…” Whitecloud looked back to the leader’s den, his eyes foggy. “I see Bluestar now: hiding, tired, scared. I worry that… everything… is going to affect her mentally. Make things worse for her. She’s hardly even telling me anything, and I’m the only family she has left. She’s never kept secrets from me.”

Ice in his toes now. Fireheart tried to clench his teeth, but his thoughts escaped him anyway. “If we were allowed to talk about ‘everything’, I think it would help her get some of that out. It could make her feel better. Make all of us feel better.”

As he could have predicted, Whitecloud started, “We can’t run the risk of bringing his soul back—”

“Horoa’s hunters must have caught him by now,” Fireheart said, surprised at the sternness in his own voice. “And just pretending that nothing happened, while it doesn’t leave our heads—he’s haunting our hearts anyway. Talking about it could help us move on.”

Whitecloud looked a little surprised, too. He recovered and gazed down at Fireheart with a mixture of affection and sadness. “…Maybe so.”

Fireheart caught himself with a breath, and with that his calmness returned. “I mean, I could at least try to talk to Bluestar myself. I am her apprentice. If she won’t tell you, maybe she’ll tell me.”

“And you are very good at getting people to talk,” Whitecloud purred. He nodded and turned for the tunnel. “Very well, then. I trust that you can be easy on her. Whenever you feel like it, try.” He stopped and looked back, his eyes serious. “But if you see her acting oddly at all, tell me immediately. It’s much more important than I can emphasize.”

Fireheart dipped his head in respect and agreement, and the senior warrior retreated into camp. Fireheart did not follow him immediately. Instead, he regarded Bluestar’s den, his stomach twisting into knots that were still quite cold.

She’ll be okay, he thought. She has to be. We need her.

*”Thlain”: A thousand, a million, infinity, or some other humongous, uncountable number.

**”Pampam”: Affectionate form of “pamarpam”, meaning “grandfather”. Similar to saying “gramps”.

#warrior cats #redux iterum #iterum #chapter #chapter three #book three #arc one #charred legacy

[bonefall]

So sorry if you’ve already talked about her and I just can’t find the post, but I would love to hear about BB!Sliverstream. I feel like the fandom and the books portray her as just generically loving and who’s whole life revolves around Graystripe and their tragic romance… But come on! She was breaking the code to meet him, she’s rebellious! She’s the daughter of Crookedstar! There’s so much potential there for a really fun character. But she ends up being nothing but dead warrior cats wife/mother number one

UNG

I've talked about her before but I'd have to go digging for it, so I'm just going to gush about her and everyone is gonna listen up. Because I love her. I love her so much. I love everything about her and her death and I think anyone who boils her down to just "a fridge wife" needs to read TPB again, and open their hearts and minds to the IMPACT that she had on the entire narrative

Because she DOESN'T just die to give Graystripe man pain. She hits EVERYONE, she drives the plot, she was a really well characterized cat and her death is heartwrenching!!!

First of all, I like the explicit fact that Graystripe and Fireheart are very young at the time. New warriors, almost immediately given apprentices.

In BB, I decided to make this one point where Bluestar bends the code to a disastrous result (in BB, you aren't supposed to have an apprentice until you're at least a year out). Graystripe should not have an apprentice when he's barely out of apprenticeship himself! Young people do dumb and wreckless things, question rules, they do what they want. And he ignores Brackenpaw to hang out with Silverstream.

And it's easy to see why! Silverstream's a self-assured, hostile popstar who is daughter of the leader and PRIDES herself in that. She has a great heart but will not follow rules she thinks are dumb, because she feels she is above consequence.

And she likes Graystripe because he's HONEST. He does what he pleases and if he takes an interest in you, it's genuine and flattering. He's funny! He's good humored and laid back! Fireheart is frustrated by this because he's responsible, anxious, and serious, but Graystripe CAN'T stay serious for that long.

He needs to live and relax. YES that makes him irresponsible and even avoidant-- and I like that a lot! But he loves with such raw devotion, never able to do what Clan Culture expects of him!

So NO WONDER these two ended up as cross clan mates. They're like peanut butter and jelly. Silverstream who feels above the rules and Graystripe who is loyal to people over clan. To them, the Code is a guideline

AND YOU KNOW WHAT?? THEYRE RIGHT!!!!

The code IS flawed!!! This IS a bad fucking rule! Their love IS stronger than this! The "Law of Loyalty" (my bb term for it) EXISTS BECAUSE OF THE SIMPLE TRUTH;

IF YOU LOVE CATS OF OTHER CLANS, AS FRIENDS, LOVERS, OR FAMILY, YOU SEE THAT THE DIVISONS ARE BULLSHIT

And that destroys the battle culture!! We SEE this in TPB, there are several times where cats will back off of fighting Fireheart because he's their fucking friend! He refuses to hurt Silverstream because she's his best friend's lover!!

And when she dies it's DEVASTATING. It wouldn't be the same if Graystripe's choices following her death were about choosing his lover over his home clan!

It's childbirth, as if she's being punished by StarClan for codebreaking! She wanted to deliver her children with her mate by her side, and had a horrible death on the rocks away from an experienced medcat. Cinderpelt blames herself for not being good enough to save her, destroying her confidence for several chapters until she can realize it was never her fault

And after this, Bluestar doesn't punish Graystripe... because she knows how awful it is to lose a mate from another Clan. Her death should be enough; in spite of the baying from the Tiger Clique for a harsher sentence.

Like... what frustrates me most about Silv is how the later books reduced her, for a period of time, into JUST a sweet nicey fridgewife that gives Graystripe permission to move on. She was fierce. She was assertive. She is the person who said, "If the law says my love is wrong, then it's the CODE that's incorrect!"

I wish she kept that ferocity in Graystripe's dreams and memories of her. A voice that would tell him that his heart has never lead him astray, even when others told him he was on the wrong path.

It was nice to see her return to some form with a spike of jealousy in TBC, and for as much as I hated Leopardstar's Honor, at LEAST it remembered she wasn't a sweet nicey waif.

So in BB I plan to change very little. BB!Silverstream was beloved by a lot of people, and people will fight for her name. Her death has a huge, negative impact on Graystripe and he never totally gets over her death, even while he's raising his new family. During TigerClan, her children are stripped of their names and slapped with cruel Dishonor Titles (Stormpaw to Graypaw, Featherpaw to Silverpaw), to remind them of how their birth killed their mother, and that their father is not here to pay for his crimes.

This infuriates her friends and family, and Deerfoot's rebels are joined by them in their guerilla opposition of TigerClan.

#BB!Silverstream

[wc-confessions]

I have seen a lot of "people need to stop making everything romantic and let friends stay friends", and while I agree with this, I was also a little bit annoyed with it (probably because I have seen this take a lot when people talk about my OTP).

But then I realize that the reason I ship my OTP as romantic and not platonic pairing is because people don't take platonic relationships seriously. If they are a pair or at least best friends then they are special and people will draw them together and write about them, but if they just friends (no matter how close) then who cares.

I have an example. It's a well written platonic relationship from the first arc that was forgotten by authors and fandom alike that was overshadowed by romantic relationships. It's Cinderpelt and Fireheart, okey. Everyone remembers that Fireheart was pining for Spottedleaf all the time but less people remember that he also spent a lot of time hanging around with Cinderpelt. I watch a "Firestar's Quest" recap and Firestar taking Graystripe and Sandstorm (his best friend and his mate) to the forest to talk with them will be mentioned but Cinderpelt (his whatever just friend), who also was present, will be forgotten. If there is a fanfiction centered around Firestar then Cinderpelt again is likely to be forgotten or barely mentioned. If there is a MAP based on Firestar then again you would be lucky if Cinderpelt appears for a frame or two. It's not like Cinderpelt was his actual closest friend who he trusted the most and who never failed him and always was there for him. And I don't even need to mention works that centers on Cinderpelt, Nine times from ten it will be one-sided love that she has to move on from and Firestar doesn't even care for her. It's not like Firestar was there for her during her worst and stayed close to her after and used to accompany her to the Fourtrees whenever it's half-moon (Hunters should've kept it in the second arc but they had to move Firestar to the background and forget all the good qualities he had).

So yeah, people do need to take platonic relationships more seriously and stop making everything about romance.

.

#text #anonymous #warrior cats #confession

[cryptidclaw]

New Cloudtail! I gave him greed eyes in my old design, but, im changing that back!

Cloud is deaf in RoC and Princess chose to join Thunder Order with him because she had heard from Fireheart that the Order had a well respected deaf warrior in their midst, and she wanted that for Cloud! Cloud is also Snowfoot (Snowkit)’s brother and he, Snow and Downnose are a unstoppable duo of white blue eyed deaf warriors! 

Thunder Order in this au is actually the one most accepting of disabilities out of the Orders, and this only grows under Firestar’s leadership! Thunder like the rest of the Orders may have plenty wrong with is but at least they have this going for them! 

Cloudtail and Brightheart are a true power couple and they often say that Bright is cloud’s ears and Cloud is Bright’s eye! 

[Image ID: A digital drawing of Cloudtail from Warrior Cats. He is standing eith his right side showing, and he is smiling with his mouth open, and has a determined expression. He is a big fluffy creamy white tom with blue eyes. He has a fluffy tuft of fur on his dead like hair and pink inner ears, mouth and nose./End ID]

#cryptidclaw's warriors au #rise of change #cloudtail #cloudtail design #cloudtail warriors #warrior cats #warrior cats design

[talonslockau]

Forest of Secrets - Chapter 8

Chapter 7 (TW) || Index || Chapter 9

Fireheart’s paws felt numb as he stared out across camp, keeping watch as the morning sun rose. He didn’t know whether to be grateful to Tigerclaw for giving him the chance to rest, or angry that the deputy had given him the chilly morning watch. At least if he were on patrol, he would be moving, which would help him stay a little warmer. Instead, he was forced to fluff up his fur and do his best to keep the cold away from him.

Truthfully, there wasn’t much to watch in the time before sunhigh. Not even Goldenflower and Frostfur’s kits were out playing, preferring instead to stay in the warmth of the nursery. Most of the elders were curled up together in their den, waiting for the heat of the sun to warm the ground up for them before they came out. The only movement in camp was the occasional gust of wind tossing a few leaves from the camp ceiling onto the ground below.

Still, he patiently scanned camp for any sign of an intruder. He was just beginning to yawn when he heard a rustling in the bramble entrance, and quickly stifled it to see who it was. To his surprise, Longtail bounded through and headed straight for him. “There’s a kittypet howling for you on the border.” The striped tom snapped as he approached, his tail flicking impatiently as he glared at Fireheart.

A kittypet? His mind instantly raced to his sister, but he had warned her several times not to enter the forest, and he had just visited her a few days ago. Surely she would wait for his return rather than try to visit him? “What does this kittypet look like?” He mewed as he heard more rustling, glancing to see Bluestar sliding out of her den. If she found out he was talking with his sister…

“It’s a black and white tom. Fat, too.” Longtail sniffed dismissively. “A typical Twoleg plaything, if you ask me.”

A black and white tom…? It couldn’t be Princess then, he thought with a small sigh of relief. Not unless it was one of her friends, anyways. “Are you sure they were looking for me?” He asked hesitantly after a moment.

“Well, he said he was looking for Dusty, or something like that, but you’re the only kittypet I know of around here.” The other warrior sneered, even as Bluestar came over to stand by his side. “Unless you’re trying to say he was looking for a different kittypet?”

Rusty. He hadn’t heard that name in ages, and as much as he longed to correct Longtail, he knew it was better to leave it in the past. Still, as his mind raced back to when he was a kittypet, it suddenly snapped into place. “Did he say his name was Smudge?” Fireheart finally asked, thinking of the kittypet he had left behind long ago when he had entered the forest.

“You know about the kittypet Longtail is talking about?” Bluestar questioned, and he shrank a bit as he once again remembered Lionheart’s warning. But he had nothing to hide: he hadn’t seen Smudge since the first moon he had been apprenticed!

“Smudge lived in the Twoleg nest next to mine, when I was a kittypet.” The ginger tom mewed to her quickly. “But I haven’t seen him in seasons. Not since- since I joined Thunderclan. I don’t know why he would be looking for me after all this time.” He wasn’t sure if she would admonish him for letting Smudge go without a fight, all those moons ago, and he wasn’t about to find out.

His leader regarded him carefully for a moment, and he wondered briefly if she had picked up on his hesitation. Finally, she turned to Longtail. “Show us where this kittypet is.” She mewed at last.

“Us?” Fireheart questioned quickly, wincing a bit as she glanced back at him. Did she not trust him? Was she accompanying them because she had caught on to his lie?

“An intruder trespassing so flagrantly is unusual. I would be remiss as a leader if I didn’t investigate it further.” She replied evenly, giving nothing away in her gaze as she turned back to Longtail. The tom sniffed in slight disapproval, but said nothing as he led them through the bramble and towards the Twolegplace - towards Fireheart’s old home.

His ears perked as they neared the border, catching the faintest fragments of an argument. The three slowed down, finally coming to a halt at the edge of a clearing where Smudge was arguing with Darkstripe as Willowbranch looked on.

“He’ll understand as soon as I explain! Please! If I don’t see him, then all the housecats will-” The kittypet tom cut off as the three emerged from the bushes, his yellow eyes wide as he caught sight of Fireheart. “Rusty! I knew you’d come!” He rushed up and all but slammed into the warrior’s side in a hearty greeting. “I told them you would!”

“It’s Fireheart now.” He corrected his kittypet friend, doing his best not to appear fazed by the overwhelming greeting. “What are you doing here, Smudge? I thought I told you not to come into the forest. It’s dangerous here.”

“Well, yea, but-” Smudge seemed surprised at his cold indifference, taking a few steps back to take in his kithood friend. “You don’t understand! All the housecats are in danger now!” 

He glanced at Longtail, who just shrugged and rolled his eyes in annoyance. “What do you mean, all housecats? Have the Twolegs done something?” He couldn’t imagine why Smudge would come to him for help with Twolegs, but maybe he imagined that a strong cat like him could defeat anything.

“What? No, no - the housefolk are fine. Mine’s been giving me lots of ham from the table lately, and-” He shook his head. “But that’s not the point! This huge band of wild cats has started attacking us in our own gardens, Rusty! They’ve threatened to kill all of us if they see us! We can’t even sunbathe anymore without risking a clawing by those thugs, it’s just terrible! Poor Hattie was attacked just yesterday!”

He stared at the young kittypet for a few moments, trying to process everything he was saying. “It’s Fireheart now.” He repeated after a few moments, before slowly shaking his head. “What do you mean, wild cats? None of the Clans would attack kittypets without provocation, it’s too risky.” As he said it, he side-eyed Darkstripe, wondering if Tigerclaw and his followers would do such a thing. But even then, they would probably just have attacked Smudge for trespassing if they were responsible, not gone to fetch a sympathetic ear. “And who’s Hattie?”

“Oh! You never met Hattie, she’s the cat your housefolk got to replace you. She was in her own garden when she was savaged!” The kittypet’s spine bristled angrily, real fury burning in his yellow eyes. “I don’t know who those wild cats are, but some of them are as big as you! Bigger, even!” He eyed Bluestar and Fireheart as he said it, as though they were the biggest cats he had ever seen. Part of him wondered how the kittypet would react to the sight of Lionheart, though the golden warrior was busy patrolling the Riverclan border. “Please, Rusty, you have to help us! Can’t you fight them off?”

He glanced at Bluestar, but he could already see the disapproval in her eyes. “Look, Smudge, it doesn’t work like that. I can’t just leave the Clan to go fight for you. It’s leafbare, and we have our own problems to worry about.” Some of them more than others, he thought to himself as he eyed Darkstripe standing there.

“Please!” Smudge’s giant yellow eyes anxiously pleaded with him. “We’re friends, aren’t we? We grew up together! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

He sighed heavily at that. He wanted to help, truly, but he knew the Clan would never approve. “Can’t your Twolegs help you? After all, I doubt these cats are as big as a Twoleg.” He mewed patiently, glancing towards the Twolegplace fence. 

“The wild cats do run away when they hear our housefolk coming, but the housefolk can’t be there all the time. They do their best to heal our wounds, but what about when a housecat gets killed?” At the thought of a dead kittypet, Fireheart shuddered. Twolegs cared deeply for their pets, albeit some more than others. What would they do if they thought the cats in the forest were responsible? “Please, Rusty. I know you can chase them away! You’re so big and strong now!”

He turned to Bluestar with a sigh. “Bluestar.” He mewed at last, already seeing her ears dip. “I know these are kittypets. But if you’ll remember, my old garden is right on our border.” He glanced at the rest of the patrol hesitantly. “If these rogues are attacking kittypets for territory, then they could start attacking us next. Maybe we should investigate, at least to make sure they aren’t a threat to us.”

He caught sight of a spark of surprise in her eyes as she considered his words. “Not to mention that if the Twolegs think that we’re the ones attacking their kittypets, they might try to attack us. The whole Clan could be in trouble if we don’t act.”

Darkstripe snorted in amusement. “You’re just saying that because you’re soft for kittypets.” The spiteful warrior growled. “Let’s just send him on his way. This doesn’t concern us.”

“Fireheart has a point.” Bluestar said thoughtfully before he could snap a retort. “The Twolegs don’t seem aware of our presence, but if they think wild cats are attacking their kittypets, the best place to hide is the forest. They could bring their tree-cutting Monsters here, to try and drive out whatever is attacking them. All of the Clans will be in danger then.”

All of the warriors shivered at the thought. He had seen the Monsters of the Treecutplace yesterday, on the way back from a Riverclan patrol: he had little doubt they could eat their way through a large swathe of forest. “You said the kittypet in Fireheart’s old nest was attacked?” She asked Smudge, who nodded mutely. “Fireheart. Why don’t you talk to her? You can examine her wounds, and decide how dangerous these rogues really are.” She nodded decisively and flicked her tail towards the border patrol. “Take Longtail with you.”

“Why do I have to go with him?” Longtail spat, saying the words on the tip of Fireheart’s tongue. “Surely he can face one little kittypet on his own.”

The leader’s blue gaze narrowed. “Because if these rogues return, I would prefer the chances of two warriors over one.” She snapped back, before rising to her paws. “You may report back to me and Tigerclaw when you have reached a decision.” With that, she flicked her tail for Darkstripe and Willowbranch to follow her, leaving for camp before either could protest.

Smudge was staring at them with wide, saucer-like eyes. “Thank you, Rusty!” He mewed happily, pressing into the former kittypet’s side once more. “I knew you would help us!”

“It’s Fireheart! Not Rusty!” He snarled at the kittypet, tail raising in anger, before sighing and lowering it as the tom shrank back. “I left that name behind me when I joined the Clan. Can you please at least try to remember that?”

The black and white tom slowly nodded. “I-I will.” He glanced hesitantly at Longtail. “So, uhm, I can show you-”

“I remember the way.” Fireheart mewed, tapping his old friend’s shoulder with his tail. “Come on. Let’s get this done quickly.”

He led the other two cats back through the trees, trying not to let the path dredge up old memories. He had been so young and foolish when he entered Clan territory, three seasons ago now; though he didn’t regret it in the slightest, the memories he had of sleeping next to his old Twolegs still felt far too comforting for the warrior he had become. He didn’t want any cat accusing him of wanting to be a kittypet again, or that he was too comfortable around Twolegs.

He paused at the edge of the fence, gazing up at the bare wood. He had only seen this side of the fence once, when he had returned from his fight with Graypaw. Now it seemed daunting, a barrier between him and the place he had once called home. 

Smudge jumped up beside him, and with some hesitation he and Longtail followed. He gestured with his tail to an evergreen bush in the corner as they landed. “We can hide under there from the Twolegs. Smudge, why don’t you call Hattie out?”

“Of course!” The kittypet tom mewed, trotting over to the Twoleg nest and jumping on the windowsill. He immediately began pawing at the glass as Longtail and Fireheart found hiding spaces under the bush, keeping as far apart as they could while still hiding in the shadows. “Hattie! I brought that friend I told you about! He wants to talk to you!”

There was silence for a few moments, and then he watched as a young tabby molly - all too similar in color to his sister - jumped up on the other side. “Can’t he come in here?” He heard her say, though it was muffled by the window in the way. “Surely he can visit his old home for a bit!”

Smudge glanced back at them hopefully, though immediately winced when he saw the wild cats’ angry glares. “He brought another friend with him, to help protect us.” Fireheart looked at Longtail. Friend was hardly the word he’d used to describe one of Tigerclaw’s most loyal followers, but he wasn’t about to contradict the kittypet. “They’re not big fans of housefolk anymore. They’ll keep us safe if any wild cats attack us, I promise!”

She looked doubtfully at him, then past him to the bush where they were hiding. Though her green eyes searched, it was clear she couldn’t see them through the window. “Alright, Smudge.” She mewed after a moment. “But if they come back-”

“Then we can stay in your house together, I promise!” Smudge mewed, headbutting the window as though it would reach her. “This is just part of getting rid of those wild cats for good, alright?”

She disappeared, and after a few heartbeats the cat flap opened as she slid out. Smudge jumped down to greet her, and moved protectively alongside her as she trotted over to the bush. It was almost cute, though Fireheart dismissed the thought as he looked over the kittypet molly now that she was close. 

He could see now that she was missing chunks of fur, though most had likely floated away on the wind by now. Her face had several long, painful looking scratches across her cheek, and there were only more down her flanks. Even the tip of her tail looked as though it had been mauled, perhaps chewed on by a rogue. “She looks worse than I did driving out Brokentail.” Fireheart hissed to Longtail, who only twitched an ear in acknowledgement.

“So you’re Rusty, then?” The dark tawny molly mewed as she looked down at him with blazing green eyes. “Smudge told me you ran away from my housefolk to become a wild cat.”

“It’s Fireheart.” He was surprised to hear Smudge chime in at the same time he did, and looked gratefully to the young tom before looking back to Hattie. “And yes, I did. My Twolegs were good to me, but I belong in the forest now.”

She huffed at that. “If you say so.” The tabby sat down and began cleaning at one of her paws. “So. What do you want to know?” She finally asked between licks.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Fireheart mewed kindly, ignoring Longtail’s derisive huff. “Smudge said you were attacked in this garden.”

“I was.” Her ears flattened at the memory, though she pretended it was only because she was cleaning them as she drew a paw over her ear. “It was yesterday, while the housefolk were out. We’ve heard rumors of a band of savages attacking cats, but I thought it was just a story, and that I’d be safe in my own garden!” She sighed dramatically. “It was a bit chilly, but I was enjoying the scent of the catmint before leafbare frost took it. Henry says that there’ll be snow any day now-”

“Get to the point!” Longtail hissed at her, causing her to jump and give an anxious glance towards Smudge beside her.

Though the kittypet tom looked worriedly at the two warriors, he nodded for his friend to continue her story. “Well, like I said, I was enjoying the catmint when these three huge cats jumped over my fence like it was made of twigs! They were between me and the cat flap over there - I had no chance to get away.” She shivered at the memory. “I’ve never seen cats so big! Not even wild cats like you two were as giant as they were.”

Though Longtail let out a low growl at that, Fireheart had to agree with her. Even amongst the Clan, he and the tabby warrior beside him weren’t the biggest warriors. He wondered if she would say the same if it had been a cat like Lionheart accompanying him. “Did you fight back?”

“I tried! But I was like nothing compared to them.” She despaired out loud, Smudge pressing comfortingly into her side. “They pinned me down and mauled me like I was a toy! I only managed to get away when the tabby with the short tail let go of me for a moment. I raced for the cat door and under my housefolks’ favorite chair until I heard their Monsters return!”

His ears perked at the description of the rogue that had attacked her. Hadn’t he met a cat like that before? “Hang on. What did these rogues look like, besides the short-tailed tabby?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It all happened so fast.” Still, her brows furrowed as she thought about it. “Two of them were tabbies, I think. They kind of blended together.” Then she gasped as she remembered. “But their leader! Oh, he was the biggest of them all, I’d never seen a cat like him. He was nearly all white, except for his feet!”

As he glanced at Longtail in shock, he could see the glimmer of recognition in the tabby warrior’s eyes. “And his feet?” Fireheart prompted her quickly, his heart racing.

“They were very dark, like the wood shreds that the housefolk use in the garden. And huge! It was like he had ten claws on each paw!” She stared at her own paw as she remembered. “And those claws… they were so sharp! It was clear he’d never had housefolk to trim them like mine do.”

“That’s Spiderfoot. It has to be.” The ginger tom hissed to his Thunderclan companion. “Brokentail must have moved on to easier prey.”

Longtail flicked his ear in acknowledgement, but he still seemed doubtful. “But why would Brokentail go after kittypets? It’s not as though he’s stealing their food.” The tabby warrior replied as he stared at the two kittypets in front of them distrustfully.

“Did they say anything to you? Before or during the attack?” Fireheart asked as he turned his attention back to Hattie. Longtail was right; he didn’t see Brokentail stooping so low as to eat kittypet food, not when there were other options like stealing from Thunderclan.

“I… I’m not sure.” She mewed, her head dipping as she searched her memory. “It’s all such a blur. They were yowling a lot; Why, even Henry could hear it from his garden!” Then she sat upright, a flash of remembrance in her green gaze. “I did hear one of them say something clearly while they were attacking me! I don’t know which one it was, though; I didn’t see.”

“That’s alright.” Fireheart encouraged gently, keeping his own green eyes locked on her. “What did the wild cat say?”

“He said something… something like ‘getting that kittypet band.’ It wasn’t very clear through the other two yowling.” She considered that for a moment. “Maybe they wanted their own collars? I don’t know why they think attacking kittypets will get them one, though.”

The Thunderclan warriors squinted in confusion at her. “No, these cats would have called collars chokers. If they’re the ones we’re thinking of, that is.” As he thought back to his battle with Brokentail, trying to puzzle it out, his blood suddenly chilled as a sickening realization hit him. “Are you sure they said band, and not Clan?”

“What? Why-” She glanced at Smudge for support, but after a moment shook her head. “I- I guess I’m not. What’s a Clan?”

“Brokentail swore he’d get back at me one day.” Fireheart hissed at Longtail, his tail bushed as he remembered. “Surely they know I’m a kittypet, and that I came from the Twolegplace. What if they think they’re getting revenge on me by attacking my ‘kin’?” His heart raced as he remembered Princess. Had he put her in danger too? Her Twoleg nest was many nests away, but they had no idea what Brokentail’s new ‘territory’ was. “Maybe they said, ‘We’re finally getting back at that kittypet Clan’!”

Longtail’s face screwed up in a grimace. “We’re not all kittypets, you know!” He spat back at the ginger tom angrily. “I’m a forest-born warrior, through and through!”

“Well, of course I know that.” The former kittypet snapped, ignoring the other two kittypets sitting there for a moment. “But do you think Brokentail’s rogues are going to really make that distinction? We have to tell Bluestar - they could be planning an attack, and they know where our camp is!”

He could see the tabby tom’s spine beginning to bristle in fear at the thought of another attack on camp, but he stubbornly shook his head. “We don’t know for sure these are Brokentail’s rogues.”

“Have you ever met another cat like Spiderfoot?” Fireheart snapped, his patience running thin with the other Thunderclanner. “It’s got to be them. The tabby with the short tail is probably Stumpytail. And the other tabby-'' He paused. There had been a few tabbies in Shadowclan - it could have been any of them. “It doesn’t really matter.”

“You expect me to return to Tigerclaw advocating an attack on behalf of these kittypets based on hearsay?” Longtail retorted with a condescending sniff. “He’ll want more proof than a kittypet’s word.”

“Oh, for-” He rolled his eyes and looked back to Hattie and Smudge. “You said you were attacked by the catmint bush, right? If it was only yesterday, there are probably still scents lingering. Maybe even blood. There hasn’t been any rain to wash it away.”

“You want to investigate a Twoleg’s territory in the open, in broad daylight? Are you mad?” The tabby beside him hissed furiously. “I’m not going out there! If you want to return to your Twolegs so badly, be my guest.”

Fireheart resisted the urge to raise his hackles as he glared at the other tom. “The Twolegs always leave their nests during the day. None of them are here right now. We’ll be fine.” He glanced at Hattie quickly. “Right?”

She stared at them with wide eyes, silent until he addressed her. “Oh! Uhm- yea. They take their Monsters and leave. You’ll hear their Monsters coming before they return, and that won’t be until near sunset.” She gave him a pleading glance. “You’ll help us, then?”

“These rogues are a danger to us as well. They’ve killed a member of our Clan, and taken our kits from their mothers. If they are bothering you, we will stop them.” He glared at Longtail beside him, then slowly emerged from the bush. “Just stay with your housefolk the next few days, alright? I’ll come back when they’ve been taken care of.”

“Killed?” Smudge squeaked from beside Hattie, who was shivering and seemed paralyzed by fear. “You don’t think they would have killed Hattie?”

He glanced back at her briefly. “No. They only kill cats that are actually a threat.” He turned his gaze to Longtail, who was still hiding under the bush. “Now come on! Do you want proof or not?”

Longtail gave him a sneer, but slowly emerged from the bush as well. Fireheart left the two kittypets on their own as he led the way across the garden to the catmint bush he remembered from his youth. He could see where Hattie had been attacked, the earth churned up and scattered by claw gouges. There were still remnants of the kittypet molly’s light fur, though most of it had drifted away by now, and the too-familiar tang of blood.

As he opened his mouth to draw the scents across his tongue, he was nearly overwhelmed by the tangle of scents. Hattie’s fear-scent, and the blood, but a stink that he remembered all too well lingered; the acrid stench of crowfood, the steamy scent of the marsh, and the heavy smell of pine trees.

“Shadowclan.” He didn’t have to confirm it for Longtail, whose ears were flat as he scented the air himself. “It’s only been a couple of moons since Brokentail’s exile. He wouldn’t have lost the Clan-scent yet.” 

“Bluestar has to know.” Fireheart mewed, and for once the other tom didn’t disagree with him. The two headed for the fence, the ginger tom nodding to the two kittypets as they passed by. “Stay safe, you two.”

“We will!” Smudge replied, pressing into Hattie’s side. As the two warriors jumped the fence, he thought he heard his kithood friend say something to the other kittypet- his replacement- but he pushed it out of his mind as he bounded into the forest. Without even a glance at each other, the two warriors raced back to camp, their newest findings at the forefront of their mind.

Brokentail could not be allowed to return.

#talonslock #warrior cats #fanfic #the prophecies begin #wc #fireheart #longtail #bluestar #smudge #darkstripe #willowbranch #hattie #talonslock story #forest of secrets

[theladyofdeath]

humbly requesting Aelin bathing Rowan/washing his hair because domestic fluff

Ship: Rowaelin, Throne of Glass Trope: domestic fluff, canon, pregnancy T/W: none WC: 832 A/N: ANYTHING to be able to use Geralt's chest as a Rowan header.

Aelin is lying in bed with a newly opened book when Rowan storms into their bedroom, hair in disarray and covered in splotches of bruises and splatters of blood. The Queen of Terrasen merely blinks at her husband before he disappears into the bathing chambers.

"I don't even get a hello?" she calls after him, placing a ribbon between the pages before closing her book.

She can hear him sigh. "Hello."

After waiting a few seconds for him to go on, Aelin hops off the bed and follows him into the washroom where he's stripping off his weapons, one by one. As she crosses her arms, she leans against the doorframe. "I assume it was not a fun day of training?"

"The new recruits are growing stronger," he says, leaning down to untie his boots. "Meanwhile, I'm regretting offering to oversee their progress myself. I went up against nearly one hundred of them today and they all got a few hits on me. Luckily, that means our army grows stronger...but, regretfully, I have a few wounds that need tending to."

Aelin huffs a laugh as she steps forward. "Well, I'm jealous," she begins, helping him unbutton his tunic once he's back to full height. "I would kill to be able to train, let off some steam."

Rowan's eyes soften as he steps toward his wife and lays his dirty, cut up hands on the bump that has grown on Aelin's abdomen. "Ten more weeks," he promises, "then you can plan on showing your armies just how powerful their Queen is."

"That's right," Aelin smiles, but when he leans down to kiss her, she shakes her head. "You smell horrible, Buzzard. Undress. Pants off."

With a dramatic roll of his eyes that Aelin swears he picked up from her, he takes off the rest of his shirt and his pants while Aelin fills the bath with hot water.

He practically groans as he sinks into the water only to have Aelin disrobe and climb in with him. He gives her a rare, sloppy smile as she dips a rag into the soapy, lavender scented water and runs it over his chest and up his neck, washing the dirt away.

"You spoil me," he says, voice low as he leans back against the porcelain, arms resting on the edges.

"I have to spoil you now," she smiles, running the cloth down his arms. "In ten weeks, I'll be too busy giving all of my attention to your son."

Rowan chuckles and watches as Aelin pulls him forward and runs the cloth down his back. "You're so convinced the babe a male."

"That's because he is," Aelin croons, taking the silver pitcher off the ledge next to them and filling it with the water. "Mother's intuition."

"We'll see," Rowan mutters as he tilts his head back and Aelin drenches his hair with warm water. She crawls further onto his lap as she lathers her hands with shampoo and runs it through his tangled, silvery strands. His eyes close and he moans as her fingers massage his scalp. "I don't care what the babe is. I will love them no matter what. As long as they have a heart like their mother's, I will be proud."

As her fingers slowed, Rowan's eyes opened once more and found his wife's eyes shining.

"Don't cry," he pleads, head cocked to the side. "At least not until you're done with my hair."

Aelin laughs quietly as she jabs him in the shoulder. As her fingers continue to work, she says, "I love you, Buzzard. Even if you drive me mad. You're going to be an amazing father."

"I love you too," he promises, "and I can't wait to be the father of our child. To raise them alongside you. To watch them grow and learn. To one day watch them rule this kingdom that we've built." That burning returns to Aelin's eyes as her hands slide down his shoulders and his chest, and into the water to wash the soap off. "You are going to be an incredible mother, Fireheart, and I am so very proud of you."

A tear slides down her cheek as she softly brings her lips to his. When she pulls back, she suppresses a grin. "Even with the loveliest words coming out of your mouth, I cannot take you seriously with soap in your hair."

Rowan's eyes narrow, his humor bringing the slightest twist to his lips. "Better rinse it out, then, so I can say more lovely words to you."

Aelin does just that, refilling the silver pitcher and running it through his hair until there's no soap left. Then, he's hers and she claims him, even though he's sore from spending his day doing his kingly duties.

He does not complain, though. He would never complain, not when it comes to his wife. His queen. His mate. The mother of his child. The love of his life.

She was his love.

And he was hers.

#rowaelin #rowan #aelin #tog #throne of glass #fanfic #fanfiction #sjm #rowan x aelin #aelin x rowan #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #tara answers prompts #canon

[sophswritingthings]

Longstar AU - Chapter One

Longtail padded around camp, grabbing a piece of fresh kill in his jaws. Turning around, Darkears came into his eyeline. Following instinct, he padded over to the dark tabby tom. He'd done the same as him, denying Tigerclaw's request to leave with him. And, Darkears had mentored him.

    “Longtail,” Darkears greeted, flicking his dark tabby tail.

    “Darkears,” He greeted back, lying beside him. “.. How’s Fernpaw's training going?”

    “Well,” He murmured. “She’s a good apprentice. Focused, loyal. She'll make a good warrior.”

    “That’s good,” Longtail mumbled back.

    “.. I have a question,” Darkears turned his amber gaze on Longtail, who cocked his head.

    “What is it?” He questioned.

    He sighed, “It’s been a week since Tigerclaw was exiled,” Darkears flattened his ears. “And I can’t.. help but think.. not going with him was the wrong decision.”

    “What?” Longtail hissed, flattening his ears tight to his skull, “He’s a traitor to ThunderClan! He betrayed the loyalty that we shared; Bluestar chose him as deputy, trusted him to help and maybe run the clan, and he turned his back on her!” He growled, “How could you ever think it was the wrong choice..?”

    “The clan is run by a weak leader and a kittypet deputy,” Darkears narrowed his eyes, hissing his words with venom. “And plus, they'll never trust us the same way they did. We were friends with Tigerclaw, trusted him the same way they did, but somehow we’re the bad cats. Do you see the way that Fireheart looks at you? Like you're going to pounce on him the minute he turns his back.”

    “I—“ Longtail was lost for words. Because Darkears was right. But trust and loyalty could be earned back, couldn’t it..? “I still think we made the right choice, Darkears.”

    “If that’s what you think, Longtail,” Darkears rose to his paws, flicking his tail irritability. “Have fun with your loyal, trusting clanmate's.” He padded away, leaving the feathers of his prey behind. Longtail watched as he went, mind racing.

    Darkears was right. The clan may never trust him the same again; but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to earn it. He had a loyal apprentice, and a few friends in Runningwind and Mousefur.

    “Hey! Longtail!”

    He whipped his head to see Swiftpaw lying beside Brightpaw and Cloudpaw, a bright smile across his face. With a soft smile, he padded over to his apprentice and friends.

    “I heard Fireheart saying he was gonna have you lead the moon high patrol,” Swiftpaw mewed, glancing at Brightpaw and Cloudpaw, who nodded. “.. Can we come with?”

    “Well, you can,” Longtail flicked Swiftpaw's ear. “But Brightpaw and Cloudpaw have to ask their mentors.”

    “I’m sure Fireheart will be okay with it,” Cloudpaw shrugged, “I think he was gonna go, anyway.”

    “.. Is he?” Longtail's fur pricked up a bit. What, did he not even trust him to lead a patrol? “Okay.. than, uh, Brightpaw can ask Whitestorm. If he says it’s okay than you can come.”

    “Thanks, Longtail!" Brightpaw gave the tan tabby tom a smile, brushing past him with a purr. She bounded over to Whitestorm.

    At least she trusts me. And so does Swiftpaw, Longtail took in a sharp breath. I’m not sure about Cloudpaw. He looks at me kinda sideways. He glanced at the apprentice, across the clearing, speaking to Fireheart.

    “.. Longtail?”

    At Swiftpaw's rather raspy, he snapped out of his thoughts.

    “Yes, Swiftpaw?” Longtail settled down beside his apprentice, “Something wrong?”

    “Not really,” He shrugged. “But.. I’m almost over twelve moons old.. shouldn’t I have become a warrior already? I’ve had my assessment. And so has Brightpaw and Cloudpaw. Thornpaw, too..”

    “.. You should have,” Longtail murmured, gazing at Fireheart across the clearing. “I'll speak to Fireheart about it, okay? Maybe he can get that message to Bluestar, since she doesn’t seem to even wanna see her own clan.”

    Swiftpaw leaned on his side, “Thanks.”

    With a content purr, Longtail rasped his tongue over the top of Swiftpaw's head. Than, he noticed Fireheart and Cloudpaw bounding toward him.

    “I'd like you to lead the moon high patrol,” He mewed softly. “I’m going to come along, along with Cloudpaw. Whitestorm and Brightpaw are coming, too.”

    “Alright,” Longtail said with a hiss to his words. “Swiftpaw's coming, too.”

    “.. Of course,” Fireheart flattened his ears, adverting eye-contact.

    “And I’d like to speak with you, Fireheart,” Longtail narrowed his eyes.

    “You don’t need to be all serious about it, Longtail.” Whitestorm padded up behind him, nudging his shoulder. “You can talk to your deputy without making a scene, you know.”

    “Well, yes, I—“

    “I’m kidding with you, Longtail,” Whitestorm let out a purr of laughter. “Now, come on. Let’s patrol and get to bed. I’m an older cat, I need my rest.”

    Fireheart twitched his whiskers. “Yes,” He smiled. “Let’s go.” He flicked his bushy tail, signaling for Longtail to take the lead. As he did, Fireheart joined up at the front with him, and the three apprentices fell in the back with Whitestorm.

    “What’d you need to talk to me about, Longtail?” Fireheart flicked his bushy tail. “It seemed important.”

    “I'd say,” Longtail hissed. “Swiftpaw, Brightpaw, Cloudpaw and Thornpaw should become warriors. They’ve passed their assessments, and are more than ready. Especially Swiftpaw.”

    “You do understand that’s not my job, Longtail—“

    “Yes, but your her deputy!” Longtail yelped, “And why isn’t she talking to the clan anymore? No meetings, no patrols. She doesn’t visit kits. No ceremonies. We don’t even see her! What in StarClan is going on?”

    “Longtail, I—“ Fireheart sighed, “I understand your concerns. I will talk to her about it.. but she’s very.. shaken, from Tigerclaw. Sick, at that. You have to understand.”

    “We all were,” Longtail flattened his ears. “She’s our leader. And she needs to start acting like it.”

#warrior cats #warrior cats au #longstar au #longtail #fireheart #whitestorm #darkstripe #swiftpaw #brightpaw #cloudpaw #warrior cats fanfic #erin hunter warriors #alternate universe #warrior cats tpb #a dangerous path

[leiawritesstories]

Omg game night with the Galathynius-Whitethorns and company would be so chaotic 👀

it really would be 👀👀

word count: 2.3k

warnings: language, chaos, naughty jokes, alcohol (they're all adults)

enjoy!!

You Little Cheater

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you serious?" Aelin propped her hands on her hips, raising both brows at her husband. "You do remember the last time we did this, yeah?"

"It was fun!" Rowan protested, winking snarkily at her. "Just because you lost at poker doesn't mean--"

"All right, Mr. Bragger," she laughed, "you can stop there."

He grinned. "But I won bragging rights, Fireheart."

"Gods," she groaned. "I've married a child."

"But you love me," he crooned, coming over to slip his arms around her waist.

"But I love you," she agreed, lips curving into a soft grin. "All right, you can tell everyone we're hosting game night."

"Yes!" Rowan kissed her quickly. "Oh, love, this is going to be so fun!"

"You keep telling yourself that," Aelin snickered, kissing him back. "I'll go make sure we have enough beer to placate Fen when he inevitably loses every single round."

~

"WHO'S READY TO LOSE?" Fenrys crowed, bursting into Aelin and Rowan's house with a huge grin plastered on his face and a bottle of tequila in each hand. "I brought presents!"

"Thank you, Fen," Aelin deadpanned, swiping the liquor from him and passing it to her husband, who prudently stored the tequila in the kitchen. Away from Fen's impulsive grasp.

Fenrys beamed. "I'm gonna win this time, I just know it."

"Bullshit!" Lorcan called from the living room, where he was already settled on the couch with a beer in his hand and Elide comfortably tucked into his side, eyeing that beer hungrily.

At twenty-three weeks pregnant, she'd finally gotten over the nausea, but the lack of alcohol was really starting to get to her.

"Thought you were going sober with me, babe," she teased.

Lorcan huffed a laugh. "Yeah, well, that was before I realized Moonbeam would be here."

"Fair enough," Elide snickered.

"I heard that!" Fen screeched. "Asshole!"

"Kinks to yourself, Moon Moon," Lorcan drawled, tipping his beer at the blonde.

Fen's tanned face flushed red and he whirled around to grab himself a beer from the kitchen, grumbling about stupid fucking drunk decisions.

"Wouldn't have to worry if you weren't a stupid drunk, Fen," Aelin crooned, handing him a drink.

"Fuck off," Fen groaned, laughing through his fake irritation.

"We'll save that for later," Rowan smirked, resting his hand dangerously close to his wife's ass.

"Fucking gods!" yelped Aedion from the doorway, where he and Lys and Dorian had just arrived. "At least wait five fucking minutes before tormenting me!"

Aelin responded to her cousin with a silent, single-finger gesture.

"Love ya too," Aedion smirked, blowing her a kiss as he headed into the living room with the others. "Lochan, how's sobriety?"

"Piss off," Elide snorted, tossing a pillow at him.

Aedion smirked. "Okay, okay, I'll stop."

"Damn right you will," she returned. "And you'll shut the hell up about it when I kick your ass at cards."

"So certain you'll win," Aedion drawled.

"Remind me again who's got the longest losing streak out of all of us?" Lys hummed, raising a knowing brow at her boyfriend.

"Shut up," Aedion groaned, flopping against the couch cushions.

Lysandra snickered. "That's right, darling, it's not the pregnant lady."

"I hate you," Aedion mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in.

"Love you too, babe." The brunette blew him a flirty kiss, resting one hand on his sloppy half-bun.

Aelin waltzed into the living room bearing cards and poker chips and a broad, slightly insane grin. "All right, idiots!" she crowed. "Who's ready to watch Fen and Aedion lose again?"

~

It wasn't even ten o'clock, and almost everyone was tipsy and giggly.

Probably because they'd played their very own version of drinking poker, where whoever lost had to take varying degrees of drinks ranging from a sip from their cup to a shot to chugging an entire beer.

Out of everyone sprawled around Aelin and Rowan's living room, Rowan and Elide were the most sober, followed by Lysandra and, surprisingly, Aelin. Lorcan was buzzed but not into drunk territory, Aedion was slurring every word he spoke, Dorian was currently laying on the floor crossing his eyes at his cards, and Fenrys was draped all over an armchair with his legs halfway over the armrest and a bright green pillow clutched to his chest, giggling uncontrollably.

In case anyone in the room wasn't aware, he'd lost more than half the hands. And subsequently consumed several beers, a healthy dose of wine, and probably too many tequila shots.

"Lorrrrkyyyyyy," Fenrys sang, his slurred voice warbling over the syllables, "whas'thish shay?" Blearily, he fumbled with his cards, dropping them all over himself as he attempted to show Lorcan the card he was trying to decipher.

It was a five of clubs.

"It's a two of hearts, Fen," Lorcan grunted, snickering to himself at his own little joke.

Fenrys grinned a huge, drunken grin, throwing his cards down onto the coffee table. Attempting to throw his cards down, at least; not a single card made it close to the table before landing on the carpet. "I WIN!" he yelled, kicking his feet like a schoolgirl on the phone. "I WINNNNNNN!"

Ever the voice of reason, Rowan punched the blonde on the shoulder. "What ya got, Fen?"

"Full"--*hic*--"house!" Fen declared, managing to collect his cards and fan them out, displaying two sixes, two twos, and the five of clubs Lorcan had informed him was a two. "Six an' twos!"

"Moonbeam," Rowan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "why the fuck do you even listen to Lorcan?"

"Cause he knows I'm smart," Lorcan snorted.

Rowan flipped off the dark-haired man. "Shut the fuck up, Lor."

"Cause he's riiiiiight," Fen beamed, his gaze completely unfocused. "I win!"

"Bitch, you do not!" Dorian elbowed the blonde enough to send him flopping out of his chair and onto the floor. "Tha'sh two pair, I gotta three'kind!" He eagerly displayed his three tens, smirking in triumph. "I beat you!"

"Not here, ya don'," Fenrys giggled, smirking up at Dorian from where he was now lying on the floor.

Dorian's whole face turned crimson. "FEN!" he screeched, smacking the blonde upside the head. "NO!"

"Yeah, yeah, not here," Fen giggled, patting Dorian's ass.

"Get a room!" Elide hollered, throwing pillows at both of the drunk, horny, overgrown children. "Gods, you two."

Dorian hiccupped. "Shoundsh like a good idea," he slurred, grinning down at Fenrys, who just beamed right back and made no attempt to get up off the floor.

Probably because he knew he wouldn't even be able to stand up.

"Hmm, pretty boy--"

"All right!" Lysandra, bottle of wine in her hand, interrupted before either Dorian or Fenrys could actually make good on their drunken promises. "I've got a new idea..."

"Please tell me it involves wine," Aelin smirked, swiping the bottle from her friend and pouring herself a healthy measure.

Lys's grin was borderline sadistic. "Everyone get your asses off the floor!" she commanded, clapping twice. "Ae, go get Twister."

"Fuck yes!" Aelin crowed, hurrying off to the hallway closet to grab Twister from one of the shelves.

"Love," Rowan interrupted--obviously the overbearing buzzard had followed her--"are we sure that's a good idea?"

"It's a fucking wonderful idea," she assured him, beaming proudly. And a little tipsily, if she was being perfectly honest.

He sighed heavily, smothering his soft chuckle. "No more tequila while you're playing, though, okay?"

"You ruin all my fun," she griped, but she nodded.

His lips twitched. "Oh, love, I don't think I ruin all your fun, do I?" That godsdamned look of his, it would be the end of her.

"Perhaps not," she murmured, sweeping her darkening gaze up and down his form.

Then dodging him and hurrying back out to the living room, her giggle echoing in his ears.

~

Lys and Aedion and Elide and Lorcan had moved the furniture out of the way, creating a space large enough for the seven or so adults to play Twister without fearing they'd break something--body or furniture--when they inevitably fell over. Aelin plopped the box atop the couch, pulling the well-loved vinyl mat out and shaking it out over the floor.

"Gimme the spinner," Elide demanded, grabbing the box and settling herself in the relocated armchair. "This pregnant lady isn't going anywhere near you idiots."

"Then why the hell are you by Lorcan?" Aelin snickered, earning herself a rumbling growl from the hulking brute in question.

"I swear to all the fuckin' gods, Galathynius..."

"Hush, you," Elide chortled, nudging her giant of a husband. "Go on."

Lorcan stared at her. "Absolutely the fuck not."

She stared right back. "Go. On."

"No."

"Yes."

The couple stared heatedly at each other for another thirty seconds before Elide pulled her trump card and settled one hand atop her bump. "Your son wants you to have fun with your friends, Lor."

"Gods fuckin' dammit," he mumbled, conceding in an instant. And turning a sharp scowl at everyone else. "Say something, I dare you."

"Such an old softie," Rowan snickered, obviously enjoying the sight of his best friend being complete putty in Elide's petite hands.

"Fuck you."

"Not my job."

Despite himself, Lorcan released a dry laugh, draining the rest of his beer. "Godsdammit, Whitethorn."

"Come on, old men," Aelin interrupted, prodding both of them towards the Twister mat. "No shoes!"

"So bossy," Rowan griped.

"You love it," she hummed, winking lewdly at him.

Dorian's loud wolf whistle was interrupted by Lysandra swatting Aelin. "Get a fuckin' room!"

"Hell no," Aelin retorted, "I've got a game to win!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Elide snorted. "Y'all ready?"

~

Sometime long after anyone had stopped looking at the clock, Aelin and Rowan waved goodbye to Aedion and Lys, the last two to leave their house. Elide and Lorcan went home first, once the round of Twister that of course ended with everyone a tangled mess of drunken and tipsy limbs and indignant squawking had ended. Though nobody could protest that it had been immense fun, what with the alcohol livening things up and the constant stream of hilarity that was Fenrys trying to position his face as close to Dorian's ass as possible.

For obvious reasons.

Despite all attempts to sabotage her, Aelin had prevailed eventually, using her years of dance and athletic training to keep her balance even when both Rowan and Lorcan were pressing into her space, the former trying to kiss her into falling over and the latter just shoving his shoulder into hers. She'd retaliated by walking her hand into the closest green space when Elide had called it, which conveniently required Lorcan to try and reach behind himself to complete the move.

Which resulted in the massive man tumbling all over himself.

"Ouch," she heard him mumble to Elide after he'd extricated himself and gone to curl up at her side.

"Poor baby," Elide crooned, laughter twinkling in her eyes. "Right foot, yellow!"

Aelin shot her foot to the yellow circle, "accidentally" tripping Fenrys in the process.

He flopped onto his stomach, pretending to be mad while being completely unable to smother his giggles. "You little cheater!" he squawked, hiccupping.

"You're a little drunk," Aelin snickered, nudging his side with her foot.

Fen yelped in outrage. "AM NOT!"

She raised a brow. "Dorian? Got something to say about that?"

"You're a lightweight!" Dorian grinned, winking at Fenrys.

"LIAR!" Fen screeched, sloppily pushing himself up off the ground and lunging for Dorian, half-tackling him to the carpet.

"Whoa there!" Aelin called, thoroughly enjoying the sight of the two drunkest people in the room "brawling" with each other. "Save the roleplay for later, boys!"

Fen shrieked in protest.

Dorian's whole face burned scarlet.

Beside Aelin, Aedion groaned. "Every single fuckin' pershon here's fuckin' hornyyyy," he slurred.

Lysandra's muffled response to that had resulted in Aedion tripping over himself as he tried to move to the next place Elide called and sending everyone on the mat toppling to the floor as he went sprawling. Only Aelin managed to somewhat escape the chaotic collapse, keeping herself stable enough to declare that she was the winner.

"Want your prize now?" Rowan smirked, wickedness written all over his face.

Elide threw a pillow at him. "Gods above, you two!"

"Love you too, Ells," Aelin crooned.

Shortly later, she and Rowan were waving at Aedion and Lysandra as they departed, leaving their house quiet, the beer bottles in the bin and the glasses in the dishwasher and Twister safely stored back in the closet.

Rowan yawned. "Gods, I'm exhausted."

Aelin snickered. "Putting up with Fen and Dorian wear you out, old man?"

"Hardly," he promised, closing and locking the front door.

She raised an unconvinced brow. "Mhmm."

"I'll show you old man," he purred, effortlessly hoisting her over his shoulder and striding up the stairs with far more stability than she'd expect from someone who'd drunk as much as her darling husband had.

"Please do..." she murmured, deliberately making her voice soft and breathy, "sir."

The growl that rumbled low in his throat at her teasing abruptly cut off into a jaw-cracking yawn.

Terrible timing, given that he was right in the middle of splaying her out on their bed.

Both of them burst into tipsy laughter, Rowan letting his head drop against his wife's chest. "Sign from above, I guess," he laughed.

Aelin kissed her husband's messy hair. "Guess so. I love you, buzzard."

"Love you more, Fireheart."

Neither of them had time to do more than change into comfy pajamas and halfheartedly brush their teeth before sleep claimed them. Still, just as Aelin let her dreams take over her mind, she couldn't suppress the way she grinned at Rowan pulling her into his warmth, ever the big spoon.

Gods, she couldn't wait to make him a dad.

~~~

TAGS:

@charlizeed

@cretaceous-therapod

@clea-nightingale

@autumnbabylon

@nerdperson524

@fireheartwhitethorn4ever

@morganofthewildfire

@rowanaelinn

@wesupremeginger

@stardelia

@shanias-world

@mybloodrunsblue

@swankii-art-teacher

@wordsafterhours

@cookiemonsterwholovesbooks

@violet-mermaid7

@holdthefrickup

@goddess-aelin

@rowaelinismyotp

@dealfea

@irondork

@elentiyawhitethorn

@live-the-fangirl-life

@darling-im-the-queen-of-hell

@chronicchthonic14

@lovely-dove-zee

@sweet-but-stormy

@hanging-from-a-cliff

@jorjy-jo

@rowaelinrambling

@thegreyj

@silentquartz

@backtobl4ck

@throneofus7

@elizarikaallen

@llyncooljones

@booknerdproblems

#my writing #answered prompt #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #rowaelin #and friends #fenrys moonbeam #lorcan salvaterre #elide lochan #aedion ashryver #lysandra ennar #dorian havilliard #all the idiots #we love them

[seasonclans]

Jake Family Tree

This was a HUGE task cause I decided to show how three different families come together with two main generations, and this shows some of the big changes I've made to family trees already.

Key:

Red: Romantic or related

Purple: Non-romantic pair

Pink: Crush or one sided feelings

With that out of the way, I can now start to explain a bit of what's going on here! (These will be separated into sections to make it easier to take in)

Fire Family

Emberbounce, previously known as Jake, was once well-known as a hardy Streetcat, never having owners and never needing them. He relied on his own skills to find food and shelter. He's also quite a bit of a charmer, even if he's not romantically interested. This made him very attractive in terms of alley toms. This is what led him to a close friend of his--Nutmeg.

Nutmeg, the cat of an Abyssinian breeder, managed to get out and meet Jake. They became friends, never romantic, but they decided to have kits nonetheless. Before we speak about them, though, we have to talk about this mysterious other cat.

Strudel was a Housecat well known for how he suddenly appeared one day. No one knew where he came from or what kind of life he had. He simply showed up, said many strange words no cat could understand, and lived a life of relaxation. Nutmeg decided to live with him and his Housefolk, not wanting to return to the breeder. While Strudel had fallen in love with her, all she wanted was someone to help raise her kittens. So, he took on a teacher role, never quite becoming the kits' father, but far more than just a caretaker.

Now, onto the kittens: Filou and Tommy don't exist anymore, or at least aren't Jake and Nutmeg's kits.

Rusty, Princess, and Luna had always been adventurous, much like their parents. They were super close, even after they were sold to their new Housefolk. Rusty, the most inquisitive, was always setting out on adventures. Meanwhile Princess, the most responsible, and Luna, the most reckless, were tagging along, causing mayhem in the streets. Really, no one was surprised when Rusty disappeared, though when his best friend Smudge began talking about stories of magic cats in another plane, it was hard to say that was predictable.

While Rusty--now Fireheart--found love in his fellow WinterClan warrior Sleetstorm, Princess found love in a kind tom named Oliver, a cat her Housefolk had gotten as a companion for her. The two are now expecting kittens, and looking for a new adventure together. Good thing Smudge seems to have an idea.

Tiny Family

Nutmeg isn't the only cat Jake sired for. Quince, a fellow Streetcat, had always desired to become a mother. That's when she met Jake, who was willing to help her out. They had three kits--Ruby, Socks, and Tiny.

While Ruby and Socks were inseparable partners in crime, Tiny was often left behind and seen as a nuisance. He struck out on his own quite often, finding his own ways to entertain himself. Eventually, tired of Ruby and Socks bullying him, he decided he wanted to live with Jake. That's when his father had an idea.

The two went to the Isle of Seasons, where Jake had been once before, and moved into SpringClan, where they were named Emberbounce and Tinypaw. This is when Emberbounce and Tallstar began to bond, until they finally became mates. Tallstar was happy to adopt Tinypaw as his son.

Sleet Family

Spottedleaf, herbalist of WinterClan, and Redtail, an esteemed storyteller, have always been the best of friends, and always got into trouble as apprentices. Though they've grown and matured, and they don't spend nearly as much time together, they're both at heart still those trouble-making siblings. They've just gotten better at hiding it.

During his transition, Redtail found himself spending more time with his close friend Runningwind, and the two slowly came to realize their feelings for each other. Eventually, they were proud to announce their kits.

Sleetstorm, Snowdrift, and Longtail were all known to be very noble, following the Clan Code's every rule, no matter what. They were all apprenticed as warriors, and thrived together as some of the most respected apprentices. Longtail even graduated early, having been an exceptionally fast learner. Then, Fireheart came along.

By the end of the first arc, the siblings weren't quite exclusively followers of the Code, and set out to help make changes that would make the Clans better for all cats.

Morning Family

Wrenflight, one of Tallstar's half-siblings, was always one for family. She always followed in Tallstar's pawsteps, and dreamed of being just like him. However, there was always one way they differed: while Tallstar preferred to stay quiet about his beliefs and listen to Mudclaw, Wrenflight has never backed down in her views. This is what Stagleap found so curious about her.

Stagleap grew up as the largest apprentice in the Clan, and eventually became the largest warrior in the Clan. He was always respected for his strength, though there was an ever-present expectation that he had to be strong at all times. With Wrenflight, he didn't have to worry about that. It wasn't long before the two became mates and welcomed their new kits.

Onekit was named for being the only survivor of his litter, considered the strongest by Stagleap. When he was named Onepaw, his younger siblings Ashkit and Morningkit were born, and the two looked up to him. As he got older, he grew closer to cats outside his own Clan, encouraged by his mother. He sought to bring the Clans together, befriending WinterClan and SummerClan cats alike, though Stagleap never liked his affinity for WinterClan. Meanwhile, Morningpaw and Ashpaw preferred to stay within their own camp. While Ashpaw was dismissive of outsider connections, Morningpaw was fascinated by Tinypaw's stories of another world, and though she'd never dream of venturing out into the unknown, she's content to hear stories of such adventures.

#ari's seasons au #warrior cats rewrite #seasons au cats

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter Two

(AO3 counterpart here.)

Over the next few nights, Fireheart observed Cloudkit as he wandered around camp and met his Clanmates. It was easier to count how many cats didn’t make a comment on his unusual colors, resulting in a frown on the little kit’s face that deepened with every repeated remark. The grey tom, Ashkit, took to standing protectively by Cloudkit and mimicking his frown until the topic was eventually dropped.

“I just don’t want him to feel self-conscious,” Brindleface said to Fireheart as the little toms wrestled with each other while their sister watched. “I know that every other Clan is going to say something about his face and tail. He can’t help being colored like that.”

Fireheart’s eye creased at Cloudkit yowling in triumph as he toppled Ashkit. “I’m sure RiverClan will like how he looks, at least. They’re all for unusual things.”

Brindleface twitched her whiskers. “Maybe he’ll be the one thing they like about us, then.”

A beautiful silver face passed over Fireheart’s vision. He said nothing.

Only a night or so after that conversation came the full moon, and with that came the Gathering. Fireheart watched the mixture of excitement and tension in everyone’s bodies come out in the form of nervously tapping their tails or kneading the sand with their claws out. He couldn’t blame them; ThunderClan had uncomfortable news to report, if they were brave enough to report it at all.

“I wish I could at least go for a moment.” Greystripe, sitting by Fireheart’s side, chewed morosely at his squirrel’s paws. “I’d like to see how everyone is.”

Ravenwing, on Greystripe’s other side, shook his head. “It’s for the best that you don’t go to any more Gatherings. Showing up right now especially is just begging for a fight to break out.”

Greystripe’s tail swiped to the right as he muttered, “Wouldn’t be the first time we broke the peace.”

Fireheart sighed. His chest tightened at the memory of the battle in ShadowClan’s moors during a Gathering night when he was still an apprentice. Kits and elders alike had died on the one night of the month where even arguments were sacrilege. Another cat that wasn’t to be named had been the cause of it, and, like the deputy, everyone danced around even the slightest mention of him.

As could’ve been predicted, Ravenwing was quick to change the topic. “Actually, does anyone know who’s going? It’s almost time to leave and I haven’t seen Bluestar at all yet.”

Fireheart blinked in surprise. “…You’re right. She must still be in her den.” He stood up. “I’ll ask her. I’d like to be there tonight myself.”

His friends nodded to him as he trotted to the camp entrance, noting that a few cats looked his way inquisitively, like he already had the answer of who was going. Through the tunnel and out to the border of camp, then to the left, and he reached the leader’s den quickly.

“Bluestar?” he called as he parted the lichen curtain. “Are you in here?”

His leader’s head jerked up from its position draped over her nest and she blinked hard, several times. “Who– oh.” The tension in her back relaxed and the fur there smoothed out. “Fireheart.”

“Sorry, were you sleeping?” Fireheart dipped his head in a respectful greeting. “I was just coming in to ask who all is going to the Gathering, since, well, it’s almost time to leave, and no one knows…”

“Oh.” Bluestar’s eyes narrowed distantly. “Right. Tonight.” She stood up and shook her fur free of dried moss. “Come on.”

Before Fireheart could respond, she walked past him and out of her den, leaving him to have to hurry after her. Her pace was regal, as usual, but her pawsteps seemed stiff, if only a little. Maybe her toes were numb from resting on them.

The Clan collectively looked up as they entered camp. Speckletail, who was speaking with Willowpelt, turned and took a few steps towards Bluestar.

“I’m content to stay home and see over things here, if you’d like,” she said briskly. “I don’t need many cats to hunt tonight.”

Bluestar lowered her chin and scanned the crowded clearing without responding for a long moment. Eventually, she turned to Speckletail. “Is there anyone you want to stay here?”

Speckletail shook her head.

“Then…” Bluestar’s eyes went over the Clan again. “Whitecloud and Ravenwing, you’ll be coming.” She looked at her old apprentice. “Fireheart, would you like to go?”

Fireheart nodded. “Please.”

“I’d like to, too,” Frostfur said. “It’s been ages since I’ve gone.”

“Can we go?” Brackenkit asked eagerly, sitting by his mother.

Frostfur gave him a gentle tap with her feathery tail. “When you four become apprentices.”

“Oh.” Brackenkit looked down in disappointment.

“Mousefur, Lizardtail, Teaselfoot…” Bluestar looked from the little group on her right to her left. “And Sandstorm. That will be enough.”

“Lucky us!” Teaselfoot looked at his sister in delight. “I’ve been wondering about Darkflower. Hopefully she’ll be there.”

“I doubt it.” Mousefur stood up and kicked some sand off her foot, leading the two toms to the others as they approached Bluestar. “Didn’t she say last time that she was going to try for a litter soon?”

“Oh, I forgot about that.” Teaselfoot tilted his head thoughtfully. “Well, who knows, maybe her mate or someone will be there. I still need to get the rest of that story from her.”

“If it’s her mate you’ll see, I wouldn’t ask about her, as a random ThunderClan tom,” Lizardtail said dryly.

“Fair enough.”

The party followed Bluestar out with tail-waves of farewell to their Clanmates. Fireheart trotted alongside Whitestorm and Ravenwing while the others fanned out a bit and chatted among themselves. Fireheart didn’t say much, mostly because he was trying to decipher the dimness in Whitecloud’s eyes when he looked at Bluestar, who had her jaw tightly set. One catch of Whitecloud’s gaze immediately told Fireheart to not say anything or press for information. The dimness was solemn and heavy. He made a mental note to check on Whitecloud when it was appropriate.

Blessedly, the walk to the neutral grounds outside of ThunderClan’s forest was uneventful. Fourtrees welcomed them with the rest of the Clans already present and chattering, their leaders seated on their boulder and quietly speaking to each other. Bluestar went straight for the boulder while her Clanmates spread out and easily melded into the crowd, which greeted them with varying levels of excitement.

Fireheart and Ravenwing stood together, looking over the crowd. Fireheart caught sight of a familiar little ShadowClan tom sitting by a black-and-white apprentice who was unusually round for a marsh cat (that is, he didn’t look on the brink of starvation).

“Rainpath!” Fireheart called, leading Ravenwing to his friend.

The grey tabby looked over and his large eyes lit up. “Fireheart and Ravenwing! Blessings, it’s been a long time.”

“You’re telling me.” Fireheart greeted him with a headbump. “Hey, Badgerpaw. I haven’t seen you in a while either.”

Badgerpaw, looking about as timid as Ravenwing usually was, nodded shyly. “Hello.”

“How’s training going?” Ravenwing asked, coming to stand beside Fireheart. “For you and your mentor.”

The apprentice didn’t look quite as nervous to speak to the black warrior. “Rainpath says I do well.”

“He does fantastically,” Rainpath said, puffing out his chest. “A hunter and fighter, all in one. He impresses even Blackstar.”

Badgerpaw shuffled his feet bashfully.

“That’s awesome!” Fireheart beamed at the little tom. “Good for you.” To Rainpath, he added, “If I remember right, he’s related to you?”

“Indeed,” Rainpath replied. “We’re cousins.”

“Well, it’s not for a while, but I’ll be a mentor to family too.” Fireheart snorted at the surprise, swiftly followed by confusion, on both ShadowClanners’ faces. “My nephew came to live with us, and Bluestar is having me teach him when he becomes an apprentice.”

“Ah!” Rainpath brightened up. “ThunderClan is quite kind to you and your blood. Congratulations.”

Fireheart chuffed lightly. “Thank you. Sorry if I start bugging you with questions about how to train him.”

“Oh, it isn’t difficult!” Rainpath cocked his head, gesturing towards Badgerpaw. “The bond is most important. Learning to speak to each other in a way you both understand, and finding how your charge learns, that is what’s vital. Teaching the ways of a warrior is easy enough after that.”

Badgerpaw nodded and leaned sideways to bump his mentor with his cheek, which Rainpath purred to.

Fireheart’s tail curled at the sight. “I just want to do my best and help him grow into a good cat.”

“You’ll do that fine,” Ravenwing said.

“That I trust in as well.” Rainpath gave Fireheart a friendly blink. “And if he’s of your blood, I also trust he will be eager to learn.”

Fireheart opened his mouth to respond, but a call sounded out from the boulder. With that, all conversation ceased and every eye turned to the leaders. Crookedstar, RiverClan’s brown-and-white leader, stood, his short tail waving back and forth.

“A pleasant night to you all!” he said, speaking around his jaw that jutted out to the side. “As always, I hate to interrupt your chatter, but we do have news to share. I hope you’ll excuse this aside before you continue your conversations.”

His voice was bright and cheery, but Fireheart didn’t miss that his face looked more… worn. Older. His muzzle was a bit greyer, his eyes heavy and sagging just a bit.

Losing Silverstream took a lot out of him, Fireheart thought immediately, and sadly. He looks so tired.

Crookedstar, luckily, did not appear to hear Fireheart’s thoughts, because he turned to the rest of the leaders with that same cheer. “Anyone care to go fir—”

“I will,” Bluestar said. She did not have anything resembling cheer in her voice or eyes. She stood as Crookedstar sat down with no small amount of surprise. “ThunderClan has a new deputy in Speckletail. She’s stayed home tonight to watch camp.”

Murmurs of surprise and congratulations rippled through the crowd. The ThunderClan cats Fireheart could see were stiff and silent.

“Good on her!” Crookedstar tilted his head. “I’m quite sorry to hear you lost Tigercl—”

“Don’t be,” Bluestar said curtly. “Our previous deputy was executed for murder and treason.”

Dead silence. Dead and shocked. Cats looked at each other with wide eyes and mouths agape. Teaselfoot and Lizardtail lowered their heads, and Whitecloud shut his eyes tightly with a grimace. Even Rookstar stared at Bluestar, and Blackstar’s fur stuck straight up off his back.

Bluestar’s grim eyes narrowed as the silence stretched for several heartbeats. She finally looked Blackstar’s way. “That’s all the news we have. Care to speak next?”

Props to Blackstar; he recovered almost immediately and straightened up again, his back-fur smoothing out. He stood and stepped forward, Bluestar retreating, and spoke.

“ShadowClan does well in this warm winter,” he said. At the sound of his voice, the air of Fourtrees lost some of its tension. “However, our ears have caught the buzz of the cats of the Aulmir. They travel in groups now, and a scouting patrol heard them speak of some sort of trouble a kemera told them of.” His ears, wide but smaller than an average ShadowClan cat’s, slid back against his head. “As if they knew we were curious, they spoke vaguely. All we know is that they are content to not do anything about whatever this trouble is, and from their words we believe they wait for the trouble to find us all.”

Tense air again, occupied by murmurs.

“I can tell you what that trouble is,” Rookstar said, flat and calm as ever.

With a blink of surprise, Blackstar nodded respectfully to his senior and stepped back. Rookstar stood next, his eyes roaming over the crowd. Even with his stoicism, Fireheart could see Rookstar’s claws ever-so-slightly unsheathed.

He gave a soft, aged sigh. “Dogs are loose.”

Fireheart perked his ears at the hisses and growls that rippled out from those few words. He had only interacted with dogs a couple times during his early life in the Houses; small white ones, and a taller yellow one. They had been noisy and eager to get near him to sniff, but obeyed their humans into harmlessness. Were leashless dogs different, then, going by everyone’s reaction?

Rookstar answered that question immediately. “Oatwhisker was torn apart by them. There’re at least two—scents are mixed up, makes it hard to tell them apart, but the pawprints were different sizes.”

Even jolly old Crookedstar gawked at Rookstar, back half-arched and eyes wide with fear. “Please tell me you have an idea of where they are.”

Rookstar shook his head. “They move fast. One day at the Barn, next one in the neutral grounds.”

Another, fiercer ripple of hissed terror and growled hatred. Fireheart wilted into a slight huddle as cats began looking around themselves, like they were expecting to find the dogs in the crowd. Rainpath reached out a paw and pulled Badgerpaw closer to his side, ratty tail bristling as well as it could.

“Then…” Blackstar lowly cleared his throat. “It’s safe to say we are all to be vigilant and wary, should these dogs come to visit our borders.”

Rookstar lowered his chin in a WindClan nod.

Fireheart peeked at Ravenwing. He was trembling.

“By the Three…” Crookedstar shook his head, that worn weariness more severe on his face. “A right lovely night this is.”

“You have a chance to cheer us up,” said Rookstar.

Crookedstar’s whiskers twitched mirthlessly. “Aside from us eating well, I have nothing to say.”

No one responded. The pause would have been awkward, were the air not still dripping cold fright and worry.

Rookstar was the one to break the silence. “We’ve shared our news. Continue your conversations.”

Uneasily and delayed, the crowd gradually turned to each other and spoke again. The topics, as Fireheart listened in, were pretty much all the same: what was to be done about the dogs and where they would go next. To his far-off left, Sandstorm chewed air stressfully, her claws flexing.

“This is no good,” Ravenwing muttered, head down. “We don’t need dogs here.”

Fireheart looked to his friend. “Is it really that bad? Won’t they go away?”

“If they’ve already murdered someone, I doubt it.” Ravenwing shivered. “They don’t hunt like us—they just… kill. For fun. I’ve heard the stories.”

“Ah—” Rainpath looked up. “Perhaps we will be alright. They must have a human they obey. It can call them off.”

Ravenwing didn’t meet his eyes, his voice so low Fireheart almost missed it. “I hope so.”

He did not sound remotely optimistic. 

#warrior cats #redux iterum #iterum #chapter #chapter two #book three #arc one #charred legacy

[iamfabiloz]

If you're still doing the prompt thing, BrambleFire except it's not a ship, they just love each other as father and son because Tigerstar is a terrible parent to his kits.

One firedad coming up! 👍 this was supposed to be firestar n bramble post the darkest hour but I accidentally wrote fireheart a bunch of timez so it’s more of an AU hc thing now lol where fire isn’t as suspicious of bramble before Bluestar dies 😔 also the setting was inspired by this map!

A pale snowflake drifted down from the sky and onto Bramblepaw’s nose, making the apprentice sneeze. The specks of frost raining down on him melted almost instantly against his warm tabby pelt. Bramblepaw chortled delightedly, reaching out with a paw to bat at the falling crystals. The apprentice’s training hollow was covered in snowfall, only a few withered stalks poking out of the white. Bramblepaw stood a few paw steps deep in it, his pads tingling. Fluffing up his brown fur against the cold, he crouched and then leaped, paws first into a thick pile of snow.

Crisp, coolness enveloped his pelt as the apprentice rolled around erratically, purring. The snow crunched beneath his weight, thawing slightly because of his pelt’s warmth.

“There you are!”

A familiar bemused voice rang out. A ginger tom came into view, his muzzle screwed up with worry. He hurriedly rushed to Bramblepaw’s side, his thinner-furred frame shivering against the cold.

Bramblepaw stopped his shuffling and got up, clumps of ice sticking to his pelt.

“Hrm? Oh, hi Fireheart!”

Bramblepaw jumped to his paws to greet his mentor, twitching his dark brown ears.

“Don’t ‘Hi Fireheart’ me,” The deputy grumped, flicking a chunk of snow off Bramblepaw’s shoulder with a flame-colored paw.

“I told you to wait for me by the oak tree, not to go charging off into the woods while I helped Cinderpelt carry herbs!” Fireheart chastised, raising an eyebrow.

“My heart nearly stopped when I found you gone! I doubled back to camp to recheck and have been looking for you for at least half an hour!”

Bramblepaw scuffled his paws abashedly on the frost covered floor.

“Sorreee Fireheart I got distracted by the snow! I wanted to see if the hollow was full of it or not, and it was!” Bramblepaw bounced excitedly for a second, before remembering he was in trouble.

“I lost track of time, I meant to go back to the oak tree but I forgot. I’m sorry.” Bramblepaw bowed his head, looking genuinely ashamed.

Fireheart took a deep breath and sighed. His ginger frame relaxed and his green eyes seemed to lighten.

“You’re lucky your usually such a good apprentice! If you were a tad more troublesome, I would give you tick duty for the rest of the day! Don’t run off again or I’ll tell Goldenflower! And then she’ll decide your fate,” Fireheart meowed, his voice taking on a gentler, teasing tone.

Bramblepaw’s pelt seemed to glow with happiness from the praise and he growled in mock offense.

“Nooo!! She made me clean out all the dens for the whole day that one time Ashpaw dared me to catch a swamp toad and eat it.”

Fireheart snorted, a plume of frosty air coming out of his nose. “And then Cinderpelt had to give you watermint for your bellyache because you ate it whole. What were you and Ashpaw thinking? Maybe I should retract my previous statement of you being a well-behaved ‘paw.” Fireheart queried with a purr.

Bramblepaw laughed, bringing a paw to his muzzle.

“I am well behaved!” Bramblepaw straightened his posture and raised his nose high in the air. “See?”

Fireheart chuckled, poking Bramblepaw’s side with his tail. “You look like your posing for a portrait!” The deputy teased, tipping his head slightly to the side.

Bramblepaw huffed unmaliciously, dropping into a crouch and sticking a paw deep into the slush. With a flick of his foot, Bramblepaw sent a snowball flying square into Fireheart’s chest. The ginger cat staggered back a paw-step, before growling playfully in return. He charged towards Bramblepaw, who darted off with a squeak. The flame-colored cat chased his apprentice playfully around the hollow, ice crunching beneath their feet as they ran. With a mighty bound, Fireheart was able to get in front of Bramble and cut him off. Bramblepaw let out a shrill mewl, as he skidded to a stop. Finally in position, Fireheart rolled a clump of snow beneath his paws and fired. The snow hit Bramblepaw’s forehead, and the little tabby flopped over dramatically. Fireheart trotted over to his fallen foster-son and ruffled his frosty head fur.

“Perhaps we should call you Bramblefur.” Fireheart teased, patting Bramblepaw’s fuzzy head as the apprentice lay in the snow.

Bramblepaw screwed up his muzzle. “I wanna be called Brambleheart after you, or Brambleflower after Mama. Or oooh, uhh, Brambleheartflower!” Bramblepaw’s tail twitched excitedly. Fireheart blinked, feeling extremely touched. “I’ll let Bluestar know,” he murmured gently. Bramblepaw mrrowed and sat up, snow coating his back. He bumped his head against Fireheart’s shoulder affectionately, beaming. Fireheart purred, blinking warmly at the kit.

Without warning, Bramblepaw shot off, his stubby paws scrabbling in the snow.

“Race you back to camp!”

The apprenticed squealed, scampering past a thin tree.

Fireheart rolled his eyes, amused, and then began to run happily after his foster-kit.

#warrior cats #wc #codysight writing #bramblestar #bramblepaw #firestar #fireheart #warriors #wc fanfic #warrior cats fanfic #warriors writing #fic #AU #goldenflower #ashfur

[wc-wild-rewrite]

Fire and Ice reread!

I didnt enjoy this nearly as much as the first book, so 7/10, i give my reasonings in the My Thoughts section. The writing is less clunky in the way its written, but the writing itself is, eh, its not terrible but its not book 1 standard.

On the bright side, i'm loving Windclan and the thunderclan apprentices.

Prolouge

Poor morningflower, having to give birth road-side without her mate

Its been nearly a moon since windclan was driven out, so they were there when rusty joined thunderclan

Deadfoot my beloved

Honestly ashfoot your complaining isnt unjustified, id be mad too

Chapter 1

They need to grow in their leafbare fur, interesting! Probably never brought up again though

"After many moons as an apprentice" its been 4 moons max, and you spent one of those moons not actually training, how did you even qualify for this

Ah yes, exposition monolouge on what happened the previous book

God i love how respectful whitestorm is

"Only been warriors for a few days" you literally just finished your vigil, dude, its not even been a whole day

Honor is a big thing for the clans

I like the idea of longtail just walking around camp giving the least subtle hints for days on end

Aww swiftpaw was so anxious for his ceremony, thats adorable

Way to have double standards, longtail. Still love you tho

And theres the full moon

Ah, more exposition, on lionheart this time. Thank you, erins, we get it, we did read the last book

Interesting how easily bluestar takes ravenpaw's leaving. I mean, not the tigerclaw part, but the leaving the clan part.

Chapter 2

Whitestorm still being respectful, even to the enemy

Oh no, whiteclaw, your not gonna see the end of this book

Yeah, so he did spend a moon looking after her

Im shocked Tigerclaw wants Windclan back

Chapter 3

Slow slug

Yellowfang seems rather chipper today

Chapter 4

As of the gathering, its been two moons since windclan was driven out

They have wood ants

They know what a year is

Apparently windclan doesnt patrol its borders often

Chapter 5

Ok so this generstion of windclan cats are DEFINITELY traumatised

I can't imagine tnp journey is gonna go well for them

I admire their sturdiness though, still willing to fight despite everything

Chapter 6

Ooo smart move, Fireheart, asking to go with them instead of offering help

Gorsekit is officially a little creature

Deadfoot!! My boy!!

I love fireheart's comeback to the apprentice

Aww barley likes sharing food with his boyfriend

Chapter 7

I love deadfoot so much, little blorbo man

Damn ok riverclan chill out

"Lame warrior" can we not

But also yess tigerclaw save my boy

Chapter 8

Oh no, whiteclaw!

Yess willowpelt protect your son

I wonder how much the story would've changed if sandpaw had dropped instead of whiteclaw, or both of them

Tigerclaw i see you trying to get your cronies new apprentices

I hope fireheart and greystripe share the story with the elders, i like them

Ok apparently brackenpaw is ginger now

Awww cinderpaw babie girl

Lil moody brackenpaw there, love him

But also they are like 4 moons didnt we just learn this was bad

Chapter 9

Honestly it is so irresponsible for bluestar to make these two mentors, they are like 10 moons at best, theres only 6 moons between them and their apprentices

Someone get Greystripe in therapy

Queens tell boogeyman stories of kit-snatching owls

Again, tree scaling, this time by smallear

Aw cinderpaw, my adhd babie girl

"When you brought them home" girl that was you, you were that kit. I know this is a writing error but i like to think its a mental disconnection due to the trauma of it

God, the "that cat in the forest...was his sister!" Is such a 2009 writing style

Chapter 10

Rip tulipkit, i think your the first of that litter to die

I wonder if fern and ash ever remembered their littermate

I love the difference between cinderpaw's wild bounding and brackenpaw's careful thinking

Awww princess and fireheart bonding is so cute

Chapter 11

Aw i like seeing them mentor, its so cute

Greystripe u kitten

Silverstream!!

"Cant you drown in your own territory" your honor i love her

Haha mischeivous cinderpaw

Chapter 12

Cinderpaw is a good liar confirmed

"Where were you when i was training" asked fireheart, the liar. "I found somewhere quiet to rest" said greystripe, also a liar

I cant tell if tigerclaw really is that observant or firepaw is just the king of overthinking

Brackenpaw's such a nerd i love him

Cinderpaw sweetie your adorable but please dont sneak up on your mentor

Chapter 13

They lost 5 kits to greencough last year, we never get info about them

Still very interesting that each prey has its own stalking technique

Chapter 14

"He was breaking the code by meeting up with another cat" oh really, sound familiar buddy?

Fuck it, im with greystripe, go see your code-breaking girlfriend

Since when the fuck has speckletail had a kit, but also hi mistlekit!!

Chapter 15

Dude your a hypocrite stop yelling at your bestie's girlfriend

But i do like how leader's daughter seems to be an important title

Silverstream's got a point, their love isnt affecting anyone

Ohhh the tabby kit was mistlekit

Ok damn why is dustpaw so aggressive

I wonder how dustpaw feels, technically being the cause behind cinderpaw's injury

Chapter 16

Explicitily described as twisted, noted

Chapter 17

Tigerclaw honestly didnt mean to, huh.

So now theres two kits with whitecough

Oh willowpelt absolutely heard that

Chapter 18

Unfortunately, fireheart, i gotta agree, its frustating watching people react to tragedies and just move on

Chapter 19

You've changed your tune awfully fast, Sandpaw, are we gonna get a reason for that or do we have to guess?

Willowpelt feels like shes covering for her son, but im definitely looking too far into it

These patrols are always longtail, darkstripe, and willowpelt. I know they probably just dont have any other warriors but its suspicious

Chapter 20

Oop, greystripe got sent to his room

Goddamn dustpaw chill out

Chapter 21

Princess honey you cant just spring this on a cat

Oh shes so sweet

Aaaand heres the ooc writing, this doesnt make sense

"It'll be at least 5 moons" would you rather he bring in a 5 moon old kit whos already adjusted to kittypet life?

Ah, there goes elderkit

At least the queens have some compassion

Ah, tom's first panic attack

Chapter 22

Has it been one moon or two? Im not sure

Cinderpaw i still love you

Asha and fern recently stopped nursing, meaning their about a moon old. Only a moon's differemce between them and cloud, then

"With all that white fur" what, like Frostfur? Or Whitestorm? Shut the fuck up, darkstripe

Chapter 23

Yeah, so its been 2 moons since the gorge fight

Deadfoot!!!

Yeah ya'll better shut up, starclan's displeased

Chapter 24

I still dont think fireheart would be this against greystripe's relationship

Ok no yeah fireheart's definitely overthinking this, he was talking about the mossball, dude

Chapter 25

Again! Willowpelt and Darkstripe in the same patrol

I can see Whitestorm being really pissed off at disrespect like this

Tigerclaw really doesnt think before he acts, huh

Good brackenpaw, run boy, run!

Hello brokenstar, you mangy motherfucker

Chapter 26

Spottedleaf's death was six moons ago, though this feels incorrect

Also fireheart, dude, you barely knew her

Kick their ass, frostfur! Kick their ass!

I nearly forgot yellowfang was a warrior before a medicine cat

Pathetic ass brokenstar, wheres your gloating now huh

Eugh can we not have this burden to the clan thing. Like shes allowed to feel like that, but only if the narrative shuts that shit down

Yay whitestorm back at it again being logical

Chapter 27

Yay, sandstorm and dustpelt!

I dont like dustpelt tbh but lets see if he redeems himself

Yeah, yellowfang, you shut that shit down!

Ok damn, greystripe, calm down, i dont even know why your angry anymore

Chapter 28

I might not like incredibly stubborn characters much, but i gotta give it to cloudkit, hes like a moon old and he caught a vole

Ugh i forgot spottedleaf is his messenger

Chapter 29

He just can't get it into his head that he's a hypocrite, huh?

What part of "dont leave the camp unguarded" was missed here, you just took every single warrior with you

Im not as fond as cloudkit as i am with cinder and bracken, but he knows what he wants

Chapter 30

Tigerclaw you arrogant bastard, i still love you though

I didnt see my boy deadfoot, where was he!!

About fuckin time these two reconcile, good god, this could've been sorted chapters ago

My thoughts

Eh, 7/10, a lot of it was just frustrating to read. Im really not a fan of miscommunication tropes or whatever hypocritcal shit was going on between fire and grey. Im also getting really sick of spottedleaf, The cloudkit being brought in scene was bad and weird, and dustpaw's just an asshole.

I liked the mentoring scenes, the apprentices, and yellowfang. I quite like brokenstar and tigerstar, even if their both bastards, and my boy whitestorm is still well written. I like that the queens are good fighters, and how supportive princess is of her brother. We didnt see much of runningwind but im fond of him. They still havent explained why sandstorm warmed up to him so suddenly, but its only book 2

Overall, a bit of a sour one, i definitely prefer the first book, out of the two, and i still think fire and ice should've been the name for the 6th book

#warrior cats #wc #reread #book reactions #fire and ice #the prophecy begins

[tortiefrancis]

Write me a Brightheart POV thingy where her disability is actually something other than inspiration porn, peasant

I was born ready

---

Brightpaw stood alone by a river near the ThunderClan camp. The warriors had gathered around by a tree to chat after that day's patrol, and the other apprentice who had gone there with them just like her had rushed in to grab a bite from the fresh kill pile. She was by the river, by herself.

The wind had stopped some time before that, allowing the river slowly become still, no ripples to be seen. Brightpaw could see her reflection in it almost perfectly.

For the first time since the accident.

The apprentice couldn't but it into words, not even to herself, but it was like she could still see the patches of fur missing from her face and back, like they'd never left. The image in her head of herself was stuck in the past, and placed on top of what it was now, like a cape of denial. She knew what had happened, she knew the injuries she sustained, but it hadn't hit her yet that that was truly reality.

She got closer to the water- a bit too close -and carefully put a paw up to one side of her face, and then the other. Skin, scarred, still s bit painful even after all of the treatment. She did it again. Fur, skin. Only one eye. She could feel the other copying whatever she did with the remaining one, somehow. She did it again. Skin, pain.

Her face felt like a ghost.

She'd lost something, but also lost nothing at all.

Brightpaw sat back in place and sighed, her gaze still fixed on her reflection. Her thoughts were beginning to gain speed, but she just couldn't go away. Maybe this way she'd accept it all faster and be able to move on, readjust. Maybe.

"Brightpaw!"

The white and ginger tabby turned around, facing a small, white cat who was staring at her with his deep, blue eyes and two mice in his mouth. He smirked, breathing heavily.

"There you are!" Cloudpaw started to walk towards her. "Here, I got you some mice. Mousefur told me she didn't see you eat and I got worried."

She looked at him, and then at the mice. "Thanks, Cloudpaw." She turned away.

He was quiet for a moment. "Aren't you hungry?"

"I'll eat it later."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm just having a bad time."

He got quiet again. "Can I ask why?"

She turned to face him again, and he'd titled his head, confused, and eager to help. She nodded and patted the ground next to her. Cloudpaw sat down.

"It's weird." Brightpaw said.

"What is?" Cloudpaw replied.

"To be... disabled." She sighed. "I'm not... I'm... I'm really happy with all of the help and support I got, and Fireheart is a great mentor, but... everything is so much different now."

He just nodded along, resting his head on his paws.

"Like... it's not bad, but it's weird, and I don't really like it." She said, faster. "It's like I know what happened and that I'm not abled anymore, but it's really hard to accept it, you know?"

"That sucks."

Brightpaw just silently stared. "What?"

They were both silent.

"Well, that sucks." He finally shrugged.

"Cloudpaw..." She couldn't keep going, as laughter took over her whole body. Her face fell on the ground.

"What?! It does! Or seems like it does!"

"What kind of response is that though?!" She yelled. "You are so weird, Cloudpaw!"

"Hey!"

"You are! I'm venting to you and that's your response?!"

"What did you want me to say? 'Oops, sounds like a real not good time, pal'?"

"That's way worse!" She laughed.

"Hey, at least it made you smile!"

"Shut up!"

"How dare you?!" He did a fake gasp.

The white cat jumped towards the ginger one, and they rolled together on the ground, giggling loudly as they slowly got farther and farther away from their camp. They let go, pretending to slash each other, through laughter and cheerful screams. The warriors by the tree simply looked at the duo, almost amazed at the scene.

Brightpaw and Cloudpaw stayed there, playing together, until the moon was high. And Brightpaw felt okay again.

She would be okay again.

Because she wasn't alone.

#sam.writes #sam.interests #warrior cats #warriors #wc #brightpaw #brightheart #cloudpaw #cloudtail #thunderclan #the prophecy begins #warrior cats fanfic

[rhetoricandlogic]

REVIEW: The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Book Reviews

September 12, 2022By Fabienne Schwizer

Aliette de Bodard’s The Red Scholar’s Wake was one of my most anticipated novels of 2022 and it did not disappoint. Inspired by the author’s Vietnamese heritage, this is the story of an arranged marriage between Xich Si, bot maker, data analyst, mother and scavenger and Rice Fish, sentient ship and space pirate leader. Part sapphic romance, part space opera, with mature characters in the prime of their lives – no twenty-year-olds finding their feet here – and all gorgeous prose. Aliette de Bodard is one of the strongest writers in SFF working today – her novella, Fireheart Tiger was just up for a Hugo last week and this is up on the same level in terms of writing and general craft.

When Rice Fish captures Xich Si’s ship, the latter expects to be tortured to death – or at the very least, an unpleasant imprisonment. So, when Rice Fish proposes a marriage alliance as the inciting incident of The Red Scholar’s Wake, Xich Si is taken aback, especially since Rice Fish, sentient ship, is famously married to the Red Scholar. Except, the Red Scholar has just died under mysterious circumstances, and this new alliance would be mutually beneficial, protecting them both and allowing Rice Fish to investigate her wife’s death. And of course, over the remainder of the story, they do, in fact, fall in love. But this isn’t a cheesy romance. This is a science fiction story that happens to have romantic elements. (Side note: with the amount of times I’m typing the words “rice” and “fish” and the context of Aliette’s Vietnamese heritage, I REALLY want some Vietnamese food now. Give me that fish sauce on rice.)

What made this truly stand out to me was Aliette’s writing. As mentioned above, Aliette’s prose is outstanding. It is descriptive and evocative without being overwrought, it is witty and full of emotion. Every character, every scene comes to life immediately and plastically, drawing the reader into this world of space pirates, family biological and found and relationships of all sorts. It is at times delicate, and at other times matter of fact and then again it will make you laugh out loud with dry wit. The characters’ maturity makes them stand out in a market saturated with coming-of-age stories across young adult and adult publishing, and it is a true breath of fresh air to read about protagonists coming into their story after a life well-lived, with attachments and history, knowing who they are and what they want. I could not recommend The Red Scholar’s Wake more.

#Aliette de Bodard #The Red Scholar's Wake #mahreviews #long post

[firelordgrantham]

so for anyone interested and the others who are plagued with visions of the posts I write, here's a summary of the established lore of my Warrior Human AU:

Bluestar is 65. Yellowfang is 70. Tallstar is 75 (which makes him well over 90 during the Great Journey)

Redtail is the father of the whole apprentices poss because he's the father of Raven and Sand (and Chestnut who I raised from the dead to make her an apprentice) and the mentor of Dust. Grey is like the only one with no father-child relationship with him until Fire comes along.

At first I had this thing with Dust always taking things badly and snapping back. Now it's turned into a running gag where he snaps back at adults (Barley, Windclan warriors, etc) and his mentor is perpetually telling him ''silence Dustpaw". Particularly, he snaps back at adults who were not talking to him at all, turning this to ''silence Dustpaw, Bluestar/Tigerclaw/Lionheart is talking".

Also Redtail doesn't die before at least 2 years in Firepaw's training. This way it's really painful to see him die.

Redtail is mentionned to be of standard age to become deputy but still a bit young to become leader, so it's cool that Bluestar still has many lives to live, right?

Subsequently Fireheart proceeds to be named deputy at age 28 and become leader at 30. He panicks.

Longtail and Chestnutpaw (once she's a warrior but I don't have a warrior name for her yet) will become mates. Considering he was the youngest warrior at the time and Chestnutpaw is in the older side of the apprentices' group, it's no bigger of a difference than, say, Berrynose and Hollyleaf (which is a pairing I wouldn't chose but you get it).

Lynxkit and Swiftkit are Tigerclaw's sons and will both live old enough to be apprentices. I don't know who will become their mentors tho.

FireGreyChestnut will become mentors very early, but only because I've raised to many dead kits from the grave and I've got too many apprentices and not enough mentors (also Tigerclaw is very active and has already killed two competent warriors).

Firepaw's mentor is Mousefur.

#wc human au