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yassifiedoompaloompa · 1 year

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How to fix warriors: pt 2

Hello! So last time, I didn't even share HALF of my ideas. So I made pt 2! Here it is!

There would be jokes that are actually funny. I'm tired of the cats not knowing what humor is. Much like how Fireheart and Graystripe have gay moments in The Prophecies Begin, Mothwing and Leafpool will have gay moments throughout The New Prophecy. Also Mothwing is a trans she-cat.

The thing with Crowfeather and Leafpool still happens. After the badger battle, Leafpool realized that Crowfeather wasn't the one for her and she loves Mothwing instead. Then she goes to tell her and Mothwing loves her too. This will be the prologue of Leafpool's Wish. It will be one of two novellas to have a prologue. I will explain the other one later. The reader would definitely be surprised that Mothwing is the other parent of Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf because they would expect it to be Crowfeather, but Leafpool's Wish would explain all the behind the scenes Mothwing and Leafpool stuff.

Okay so now let's get into the good part of my au. Some of you may have heard of Dako's theory that Starclan are the real villains of Warriors and that they were manipulating Squirrelflight and Leafpool to control The Three. This is the theory: Starclan chose Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw to be the parents of The Three originally, even Cinderpelt the Fire and Tiger sign. They set up the connection with Squirrelflight and Leafpool to ensure Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight's safety on the journey to the Sun Drown Place. But Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw fight and Starclan just want The Three to be born. So when Leafpool starts showing feelings for Crowfeather, they send Spottedleaf and Feathertail to bring them closer together, so that Leafpool runs away with him. They killed off Cinderpelt so Leafpool had a reason to stay in the Clans. To protect The Three, they had Squirrelflight pretend to be the mother. To make her agree, they told her she was infertile. They aid in the birth of Leafpool's kits because they really want to ensure the kits safety. They send the sign to Firestar about making Brambleclaw deputy so that every cat in power would want to protect the three. Leafpool because she's their mother, Brambleclaw because he thinks he's their father, and Firestar because he's their grandfather and he was sent the sign about The Three. That's the theory. Before I compare my au to this theory, I want to say a few things. The reason this theory doesn't make sense is because there is no reason for Starclan to put Dovewing in a separate litter and also, what is Starclan's reason for wanting to control The Three? They have plenty of power already. In my au, it isn't Starclan manipulating Squirrelflight and Leafpool. It's the Ancients manipulating Starclan. I know that may seem pretty random, but let me explain. We know that Starclan are just normal cats and that they aren't all-knowing. We know that they can't do everything. And we know that they get prophecies and pass them to the living cats. But we don't know, however, where these prophecies come from. I think that they come from some higher power. And I think that higher power is the Ancients. Here is my au:

Jay's Wing, Lion's Roar, and Holly's Berry were reincarnated and became Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf. At first, Rock's power to see all of the past, present, and future, was a curse. But then, it really started to come in handy. And Brightspirit could deliver prophecies to the cats of Starclan. Their goal was to work with Thunder, Wind, River, and Shadow, to set the Ancients free and rise back to power. And The Three have the power to do that if they put their powers together. Starclan had nothing to do with Squirrelflight and Leafpool's connection. It was the Ancients. The Ancients told Spottedleaf and Feathertail to bring Leafpool and Crowfeather together. (But Yellowfang came instead of Spottedleaf.) They told Starclan to remind Squirrelflight she couldn't have kits to make her agree, (she's trans) but in my au she didn't need to be told this as she would to anything for her sister. Also the reason they reincarnated Cinderpelt was because if they didn't Rock saw that she would figure out the Ancients plan. Notice how they only reincarnated cats if it would help with their plan. Basically The Ancients tell Starclan to do everything and Rock decides that The Three should have a leader. And that leader is Jayfeather. He attempts to manipulate Jayfeather by talking to him through the stick. The prologue of Eclipse would remain the same except after Yellowfang says"I just have a feeling" and looks at the trees, the scene changes and Rock is telling his "gang" that in the future there will be a really bloody battle. Jayfeather will survive because he's a medicine cat and won't be a part of the battle. Lionblaze will survive because of his fighting powers. But Rock can't tell if Hollyleaf survives. It's also bad because Hollyleaf doesn't have her power yet. Rock pause and then asks why Hollyleaf doesn't have her power yet. Holly's berry says that she thinks Hollyleaf subconsciously senses that she is being controlled by something and it will take a while for her to discover and accept her power. They decide that Thunder, Wind, River, and Shadow will stop the battle by covering the sun. (They are the ones who have power over the physical world.) Rock tells Brightspirit to send a prophecy to Yellowfang, but not tell her everything. Just that there will be a darkness. Brightspirit agrees and then the scene switches back to Yellowfang and Spottedleaf and the prologue continues as normal. Now let's talk about Hollyleaf. My favorite character. She is older than Lionblaze and Jayfeather, she's an Ace Lesbian, she has ADHD, she was mad at Lionblaze for being in a relationship with Heathertail, even though she was in a relationship with Willowshine at the time, she has has a hyper fixation on the warrior code, it affected her entire life and even her relationship with her brothers, she was a genius and could quickly figure out the consequences of the smallest actions, and she was the brains out of her siblings. No matter how much she cared about the warrior code, she was always getting herself into trouble as shown by her relationship with Willowshine (and also the fact that she killed Ashfur.) She always had a murderous side. Thats why being a medicine cat didn't work out for her. She would rather fight than heal. She freaked out when she learned that Squirrelflight was not her mother and killed Ashfur. But nothing changed. The code was still broken when she learned that Mothwing and Leafpool were her parents. And she kinda went insane.

yassified passage from Sunrise, page 180:

"Sol was sitting at the top of the slope, his back to her, his gaze fixed on the paling stars. " Do you still think they hold all the answers, Hollyleaf? " Every hair on Hollyleaf's pelt rose, until she realized that she was standing upwind of the stream and Sol must have scented her approach. "I...I don't know," she replied. "I don't know anything anymore," Now Sol turned to her, his amber eyes blinking sympathetically. "Why is that?" Hollyleaf sighed. "Everything I hear about Starclan and the warrior code and how good it all is, is just confusing now. Everything is making me question them. Are they really all that perfect?" Even as she spoke, she couldn't believe she was telling this to any cat. She hadn't even shared her doubts with her siblings. And now she was sharing them with Sol! A cat she used to hate. But he made her feel...strange. Something sparked inside her. Like an idea of some sort. Or something she had to to realize. "

The rest of the passage continues as normal. I would also yassify the part where The Three go and confront Crowfeather and I would change it to Mothwing and whatnot. But instead, I'm gonna yassify page 306-307

"Mothwing's voice rose above the rest. " It's true! " Beside her, Mistyfoot looked furious. "I was there when Leafpool had our kits," Then Leafpool stood up. The crowd of cats fell silent, their eyes turned toward her. She padded up to Mothwing and touched noses with her. Her yellow eyes were filled with grief. Pity stirred in Hollyleaf, but her insanity choked it down. I hate her! She lied and betrayed us all! Mothwing stared at the crowd with a fire in her eyes. "Leafpool means everything to me. whatever you do, you can't take her away from me" The crowd was surrounding Mothwing and Leafpool and hissing. Leafpool looked up at Firestar. "No matter what, me and Mothwing will remain medicine cats. I'm very sorry to you, Firestar, and to all my clanmates. But I regret nothing," She said every word with confidence. "And I will never regret having my kits. I love them more than anything," She leaned into Mothwing's shoulder and closed her eyes. Every cat stared at them, shocked into silence."

Now lets skip to 308.

"But none of the cats seemed pleased. Not even her own clanmates. Sandstorm was staring at her, bewilderment and sorrow in her green gaze. Graystripe's eyes were blank with disbelief. Poppyfrost and Berrynose had their heads close together, talking urgently and shooting hostile glances at her. Why didn't anyone understand? wasn't she doing the right thing? Why wasn't anyone proud of her? What did she do to deserve this? Usually, Hollyleaf could immediately predict the consequences of any action. So why couldn't she predict this?"

Okay, now for the part where she goes to the moonpool.

"Was it all worth it?" Hollyleaf wailed to them. "Being an apprentice, working hard to learn the warrior code? What could any of us done to make things different?" The flickering stars gave no answer. Of course they didn't. Maybe they didn't know what was going on either. Then, she felt it. That feeling Sol gave her. Suddenly, she realized that she was wrong about everything. The reason she doesn't have any power is because of this feeling. Starclan has no power over her life Something else does. Something else wants control. Starclan doesn't know all the answers. But who or what does? "

page 310

"A gleam of some emotion that Hollyleaf couldn't read woke in Leafpool's eyes. " Hollyleaf, " Leafpool meowed. " I have lost my kits and Firestar will probably prevent me from seeing Mothwing and being a medicine cat. I have lost everything. It would be easier for me to die," Without a word, Hollyleaf took the deathberries and left. She buried them in the sand outside the entrance to the camp. She knew exactly what to do next. She won't be controlled. " End of chapter.

She gives Jayfeather and Lionblaze one last smile before the tunnel collapses onto her...But nothing changes. And that is where we get into Hollyleaf's Story. The second novella to have a prologue. The Ancients know what Hollyleaf has figured out and they know that she isn't coming up from that tunnel anytime soon. So they replace Holly's Berry with Dove's Wing. Which goes like this:

"Holly's Berry shifted uncomfortably. " Rock, what will we do now?" Rock smiled wickedly. "Dove's Wing, come forth" A gray she-cat came forward, with her head down and her eyes closed. "Well Holly's Berry, looks like we won't be needing you anymore. We will give Hollyleaf's power to someone else," With sorrow in her eyes and her ears flattened, Holly's Berry padded off into the darkness. Dove's Wing slowly smiled and opened her eyes. Then she spoke. "We are going to combine The Three's power, open a portal, and kill. them. all. (she-ra reference)"

So that was the prologue. Basically throughout Hollyleaf's Story, her and Fallen Leaves figure out more about the Ancients and Fallen Leaves makes Hollyleaf feel the same way Sol did woth mysterious feeling like there was more to what hes saying. Also in my au, Fallen Leaves was abused and when Jayfeather goes into the past, instead of Fallen Leaves' mother crying for him, she's just happy he's gone.

So here's where my au meets Omen of the Stars. Rock tries to tell The Three how to combine their powers to make a portal. Jayfeather becomes angry with him and breaks the stick. But later he decides they should do it. Meanwhile Hollyleaf tells Ivypool about her suspicions. Ivypool tries to stop her sister, but she won't listen. Hollyleaf tries to stop her brothers, but they won't listen either. Hollyleaf and Ivypool are too late to stop The Three from using their power. They open a hole in the sky. The Ancients come through. But so do the Dark Forest. The Great Battle Begins. The Dark Forest and the living cats vs the Ancients. Spottedleaf, Yellowfang, and Bluestar join the battle to protect Firestar, whom all three of them love. Then the rest of Starclan join. Ravenpaw and Barley conveniently decided to visit the Clan cats that day. They joined The Battle as well. Ravenpaw kills Tigerstar. Hawkfrost is mean to Mothwing but Leafpool protects her and almost kills him but spares him. Ferncloud is one who saves Ivypool's life and dies instead of Hollyleaf. You remember when Tallstar died and changed his deputy to Onewhisker? Well, thats what Firestar does. He changes it to Hollyleaf. He also loves Leafpool so much that she can stay a med cat. Leopardstar said same for Mothwing. and they can still see each other. Suddenly, the Ancients use their FULL POWER. Everything looks hopeless. Then Hollyleaf glows dark green. And Jayfeather glows blue, Lionblaze glows yellow, Dovewing glows light green, Ivypool glows silver, Firestar glows orange, and it becomes Power of Six. Then, their colors glow in an orb in front of their chest and combine into a giant rainbow orb. It blasts magical power, sealing the Ancients away forever. But Rock pulls Hollyleaf in with him. He almost kills her but then Cinderheart rescues her and kills Rock. Everything is right with the universe, Mapleshade is redeemed, and Fallen Leaves' curse is broken! he can join Starclan! He tells Hollyleaf that she's better with Cinderheart. Firestar, Graystripe, Sandstorm, and Silverstream are poly in Starclan. Cinderheart looks longingly at Hollyleaf. Then nervously at Lionblaze. He smiles and nods his head. She bounds toward Hollyleaf and they touch noses. "It's over. They're gone," mews Cinderheart. "Good Riddance," Hollyleaf mews back. (she-ra reference) Cinderpelt whispers "Thank you" to Cinderheart and leaves her body and flies off, joining Starclan. Hollyleaf becomes Hollystar and changes the warrior code so that cats can have relationships with cats in other Clans and med cats can have kits!

The End I hope you enjoyed this au!

#warriors rewrite #gay cats #gay #warrior cats #warriors #hollyleaf #au fanfiction #wlw #why am i like this

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mistlestripe · 1 year

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Redtail’s debt (mostly) rewrite concept ideas.

Okay so I skimmed over Redtail’s debt the other day, and GOD I was just never a fan of the writing in that book. Redtail’s character is super generic and like they just chose a random “protagonist” personality for him, the pacing is strange and fucks up the timeline a LOT considering Darkstripe nor Longtail are even IMPLIED to be conceived, and that doesn't even mention the terrible straight-up MISTAKES of Ravenpaw’s behavior and Oakheart’s death.

Honestly my biggest gripe is his and Tigerclaws dynamic though. Tigerclaw in the first series is implied to be someone that EVERYONE trusts, someone who is noble and that people believe in as a good cat to trust their clan into (considering he became deputy, and clearly had enough of a reputation to become shadowclan’s leader). I don’t like how obviously evil he behaves, and how he seems to have a track-record of being violent and unnecessarily cruel (Acoording to a windclan cat in the book) . And I especially dont like how Redtail is characterized as naïve and is so obviously taken advantage of, and how Redtail grows to become hateful and distrustful of Tigerclaw despite the whole situation of that intending to be super unexpected and shocking. IDK I just think it’d have more depth if there was no “mistrust” involved, because we know how it turns out already, it just becomes boring if the characters themselves predict it.

Though warning i briefly mention spottedleaf’s heart around the beginning. However the contents of that book are never mentioned and only really referenced in regards to timeline issues I have.

It’s RLLY long just a warning. also srry for bad grammar and typos and rambly text.

Though do tell me your opinions! Let me know anything that is weird about my idea or anything that is GOOD about my idea! I’m not an experienced writer at all so I’d appreciate critique! (I do love to just discuss about it)

First off, while I’m not opposed to Willow/Red/Spotted all being siblings, I don’t like him being younger than tigerclaw like that. It’s not THAT big a deal but he’s implied to be super respectable, and it just makes not that much sense that Bluestar would pick a younger warrior over an older warrior. and more POINTEDLY I don’t like Spottedleaf being in that same litter bec that would imply she was super old by TPB T_T.... I’d probably just remove Spottedleaf from Redtail’s debt or just make it so she’s a kit during later in the book, rather than being of same age (they can still have the same parents, maybe it can be noted that Adderfang and Swiftbreeze are old and spottedleaf’s litter is gonna be their last litter (Which I know would mess with the timeline a bit since they retire, but its not that big a change I dont think? Or at least something that cant be fixed with other changes...) Spottedpaw doesnt do much in Redtail’s debt so it’s not so much a problem in here rather than in Spottedleaf’s heart. I could put him in Leopard/Patch’s litter but I’d rather not since I dont like him being older than Bluestar either/or that much older than Tigerclaw.

I do prefer Tigerclaw being younger than Redtail though, Ik it doesnt make much sense in line with bluestars prophecy but whatever we can just pretend like thats changed (as in redtail’s litter randomly being born at some point during then before Tigerstar’s, Tigerclaw’s birth would stay the same in the same time) --- It’d also work with some Willowpelt context I have in mind but I’ll get to that later

I’d basically swap the dynamic, Redtail being an older apprentice-near warrior age at the beginning of the book, and Tigerpaw being a newer, younger apprentice. I’d give him “YS brokenpaw” syndrome (i didnt care for that being brokenpaw’s personality anyways like its not terrible but whatever) and he’s SUPER eager to train and battle and be overly enthusiastic and eager to prove himself to his bitchy mentor thistleclaw and because of that he speaks out and misbehaves a lot.

My main idea is rather than the painfully obvious storytelling in Redtail’s debt where Redtail is naive and Tigerclaw saves him and then Tigerclaw makes him do evil things (which, I do not like that TIGERCLAW is specifically bad. It fucks up the first arc where it was “unexpected” and everyone looked up to him and wanted him to be deputy. like its just so blatant like give us subtlety pls)

Anyways but like instead of that I’d make it so TIGERPAW is the one who first gets into trouble, whereas Redpaw would be the one to save him -- Tigerpaw is shocked and angry he couldn’t save himself but Tigerpaw would tell Redpaw he “owes him one” and is gonna make it up to him one day

Then in another chapter there’d be a timeskip, Redtail becoming a warrior, this chapter would be mostly “fluff” parts (or it would just be giving stuff that leads to the next “action” part) But Tigerpaw reminds Redtail that even if he’s a warrior, that Tigerpaw will still make it up to him and to not forget his promise-- Redtail brushes this off though as he sees it as Tigerpaw just being young and not serious. It could note how old his mother is and how she declined being an elder or something

But after that it would eventually lead into a cat-battle, probably Riverclan related, and there would be some action moment where Redtail worries about his old mother and struggles to find her and assure that she’s safe, Only for Tigerpaw to save him and help him save his mother (Maybe he can also help redtail by helping him carry her if shes wounded or smth idk) And it basically ends up with Redtail being proud of Tigerpaw (Who could become Tigerclaw here actually because I dont think Tigerclaw’s warrior ceremony was ever given much reason other than them two just being warrior-aged, it’d be good for Tigerclaw’s reputation context in the first arc if he actually did more “great” acts) and it basically gets to Tigerclaw being like “I told you I would pay you back one day.” And Redtail being like “Thank you Tigerclaw. Whatever debt there was between us has been repaid honorably. I’m proud to call you my clanmate.” sort of thing blah blah.

Note: A concept idea I had is that younger-Willowpelt is characterized similarly to Rosetail’s place in BP, being boy-interested and as an apprentice stating how she’d love to have kits some day (like beyond typical degree though), I thought of maybe keeping that old “Tawnyspots is Darkstripes father” concept but the relationship would be like a Nightcloud situation where she simply dated a much younger (though adult), unrelatable Crowfeather because she wanted to have kits--- I imagined it being gossip that Tawnyspots wants to have kits before he dies ((but it wouldn’t go in depth of their relationship, I don’t imagine Tawnyspots was actually in love with her but he wasn’t distant or abusive about it. It’d just be one of those things that are like “oh that makes sense because X” that are mentioned only in passing))-- though since it happened within a timeskip Darkkit’s father could go unnamed. Moving Red/Willow’s birth to before Tigerclaws would make this work more so that Willowpelt at least gets to be a warrior before Tawnyspots dies.

But then another timeskip and Willowpelt gives birth to Darkkit, probably just being the only one of his litter because tragedy is uneeded here, and Swiftbreeze also turns out to be pregnant around the same time (which cats could gossip about how old she is ig bec warrior cats are rude) --- ((Though actually I might make it so she has kits a little later, but not by that much))

This point is a little bit more cloudy in terms of my thought process, but I imagine whether it be a battle, or kit-danger, Tigerclaw saves Willowpelt and Darkkit in another intense *redtail scared for his family* moment, which would lead up to an interaction being like (not literally this is just what im coming up with) Tigerclaw: “I’m just repaying my debt. I’ll never forget how you saved my life Redtail.” Redtail: “Your debt has been repaid. I promise, Tigerclaw, I’ll pay you back for all the times you’ve helped me, as you’ve done for me. Let’s consider this a debt of my own.”

(So which is what gives the title “Redtails debt” more depth up there ^^^ Also note at this point it wouldn’t be acknowledged but Tigerclaw’s kindness is now more “building up his reputation” rather than him being a nice person. like manipulatively he’s acting super noble) And Although after this would leave an opening for some more plot (maybe some sort of fallout scene like the original RD had, but rather than it ending with Redtail not trusting him I think I’d make it so Tigerclaw ties it up much better and Redtail still trusts him MAYBE something like there’s a sunningrocks battle and some character dies because Tigerclaw tells him not to give up/end the fight-- though it wouldn't end with Redtail not trusting Tigerclaw or hating him), But even from there it could have the timeskip to the prequel sunningrocks battle, Ravenpaw actually acts like Ravenpaw, I’d prefer to show off more of the younger apprentices then bec thats cute and iconic, and Redtail as a “death flag” moment where he reminds Tigerclaw that he’ll pay him back and never forget his debt. Redtail DOESNT kill oakheart, and as Tigerclaw kills him the last words Redtail hears from Tigerclaw is “Consider your debt repaid.”

#also yeah i wouldnt include any romance because I hate any conceivable idea that Redtail was sandstorms father #Ok well less that and more I hate that BRINDLEFACE is her mom #warrior cats #wc #redtails debt #redtail #tigerclaw #tigerstar #warrior cats rewrite #rewrite #tpb #the prophecies begin #LOL

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kaycatkit · 10 months

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I made a short story about Redtail and Runningwind with Sandkit being born bc I love them

Also on my Ao3 so check it out there too

Runningwind’s tail twitched as he stared at the nursery entrance. It had been a long time since he had come back from dawn patrol to find that Redtail had started to kit. Now, at sunhigh, he still wasn’t allowed in to see his mate.

Worrying made him feel heavy. Redtail had been yowling from inside the nursery and it had stopped only a moment ago.

Beside him, One-eye sat patiently with her tail intertwined with his in silent comfort. “It’s been a while. Does it take this long?” Runningwind asked his mother, standing up, paws itching with impatience.

Her whiskers twitched in amusement. “It’s completely natural. I mean, look at Robinwing. This is her third litter and it took just as long. He’s got all the help he needs in there.”

He nodded, but didn’t sit back down, instead pacing back and forth in front of One-eye. “He’s been antsy this past quarter moon, but I didn’t think the kits would be here so soon.”

“Kits never listen to their parents,” she joked with a chuckle. “This is only the beginning.”

Runningwind was just about to force his way into the nursery, Spottedleaf appeared through the brush with a warm smile on her face. He rushed forward, turning up dust beneath him. “Is he alright?” Runningwind demanded.

Spottedleaf purred loudly. “They’re fine. He wants to see you.” Having permission, Runningwind pushed past her, reminding himself to apologize later, and into the den.

Redtail laid in the middle of the nursery, surrounded by the other queens. He emitted a fresh, milky scent and smiled when he spotted Runningwind. “Come here,” he murmured softly, his voice hoarse.

Runningwind complied and touched noses with his mate. Redtail purred and his eyes looked down as he uncurled his tail from his side. A pale ginger kit pummeled his side, her paws opening and closing with tiny claws.

Runningwind’s mouth fell open in shock as he stared at the kit. He leaned down and breathed in its warm scent. “We have a daughter..” he whispered in awe before looking back up at Redtail. “We have a daughter.”

“We do,” Redtail laughed, happy tears building up in his eyes. His fur was disheveled and there was an underlying smell of blood. Runningwind laid down in the nest, curling his body around his family.

“Are you okay? Is she?” Runningwind fretted, licking his mate’s face all over.

“We’re fine. She just got a little.. stuck.” Redtail explained with a shudder. “Great StarClan, it hurt.”

Runningwind said nothing and nuzzled his shoulder. Between them, the she-kit unlatched herself and let out a wail, her tiny muzzle scrunching. Redtail tried to push her back, but she refused and mewed. “So much fire in her already. Have you thought of any names?” Runningwind asked, nosing the kit as she fought furiously to wiggle around.

“No,” Redtail admitted. “I wanted you to name her.”

“Really? She’s the only one, are you sure?” Redtail nodded. Runningwind stared down at her, taking in the sight. She was a tabby like himself and had no defining marks on her body that he could see. “She is the color of sand. What about Sandkit?”

Redtail purred and looked down at her. “Sandkit is perfect.” He leaned down and rested his muzzle on her wriggling form. “Our daughter, Sandkit.” Runningwind laid his head on Redtail’s neck and closed his eyes with a pleased sigh. They were fathers now and he couldn’t wait to see how Sandkit would grow.

#redtail #runningwind #sandstorm #warrior cats #erin hunter warriors #fluff #domestic #short story

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blorboclaw · 1 year

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Do you have any theories for who Graystripe's father is?

Short answer: nah never really thought about that.

Long answer: he mated with two females, neither of those were born in Thunderclan. It could mean that his father already had kits in Thunderclan and there was a risk of retconned incest if the Erins had expanded on him later and then retconned his father.

Let’s see who the potential fathers could be (by which I mean here’s a list, debunked one by one, of all the males who could, by virtue of their life’s time crossing Graystripe’s date of fertilization so to say):

- Runningwind: possible. Not known to have had any mate (except for Dappletail who was... way, way older than him so many fans hc that he just stepped in because she didn’t want to reveal the real father’s name)

- Redtail (cannot be because he’s Willowpelt’s brother)

- Whitestorm (we know Willowpelt went on to be his mate later with SorrelRainSoot... promising)

- Tigerclaw (that would be fucked up so I dig it. also Willowpelt is gray but not tabby and Graystripe has to take his stripes from somewhere... however he is Willowpelt’s nephew although he is a bit older)

- Lionheart (possible, let’s talk about that later)

- Thistleclaw (we don’t know when he died except that it was before Into the Wild)

- Patchpelt (cannot be because he’s Willowpelt’s brother)

- Thrushpelt (same as Thistleclaw, and he could have moved on from Bluestar)

- Smallear and Half-Tail (mates of Speckletail and One-Eye already).

So what he have right now as possibilities:

- Runningwind, who isn’t mentionned as being good with kits nor as having any kits in canon. Retconned to be Dappletail’s mate. If he was retconned to be Dappletail’s mate we can think he won’t ever be Willowpelt’s.

- Whitestorm. It would mean he was Willowpelt’s mate, then went with Brindleface and then with Willowpelt again (Dark, Gray, then AshFern with Brindle, and back to Willow for SootSorrelRain). Idk I don’t picture him as going with Brindleface then going back to Willowpelt.

- Lionheart, Smallear and Halftail, who were mated with other queens at the time: could be the reason why Willowpelt didn’t say who was the father.

- Thrushpelt and Thistleclaw: let’s bar Thistleclaw because him mating with Spottedleaf’s littermate after failing to have his ways with her is just gross.

Closest contestants are Thrushpelt and one of the Three Already Mated.

There are two reasons why Willowpelt wouldn’t reveal the father: if he already is with someone else (but in that case why would she have two litters, albeit of one kit each, with him?) or if he died during the pregnancy and it’s not relevant anymore.

In the first case I don’t think it’s the most plausible. In the second, it’s kinda neat to have Thrushpelt still have kits despite Bluestar’s rejection. And that would give a reason why he’s never mentionned as Bluestar’s dead mate: because everybody thought/knew he had “cheated”/moved on with Willowpelt.

So as far as I’m concerned from now on, Thrushpelt was Willowpelt’s mate and they got Darkstripe and Graystripe together. Plus his littermate Tawnyspot was a gray tabby so we know there is the tabby gene somewhere in his dna.

#ask #thrushpelt #wc hc #willowpelt #graystripe #darkstripe

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stagwhisker · 2 years

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Actually off the top of my head here’s some small stuff I’d keep or change in no paticular order. Most of it is first arc since I recently reread that and its fresh in my mind.

Graystripe stays in Riverclan until PoT. He’d return to Thunderclan when he returns to the Lake Territory due to both of his kits no longer residing in Riverclan. Also just make him a better father in general as well as have his loyalties run around his family. I also wanthim to be a positive force in Briarlight’s life later. I do want to keep Millie behaving the way she does but have it clear that you know that isn’t a good way to react and have her develop past it.

Also the Spottedleaf romance plot simply won’t exist I have had it nope not doing it again. In fact I have a better role in mind for her in TNP anyway so I may have someone else take her place though I don’t think there IS anyone to hmm. I just know I want to change Spottedleaf REALLY badly.

I think I’d still “canonize” Longtail being Robinwing’s son with Frostfur and Brindleface as his older sisters. PERHAPS have Cherrypaw and Chestnutkit come from the same litter as him. Ravenpaw would also still be Robinwing’s son.

Speaking of Brindleface, I know for a fact I don’t want her to be Sandstorm’s mother. I want to try to limit relationships that are incestuous which honestly is a tall order but god Ashfur and Squirrelflight is bad enough as is they don’t need to be related. On that note, Runningwind would be her father instead of Redtail. I don’t know who her mother would be and honestly it doesn’t matter I don’t think she ever appears as a kit in the series.

I’m so torn on Cinderpelt because on one hand I let her become a Warrior because she is completely capable of doing so but then I’d have to pick a new med cat and I can’t think of anybody off the top of my head around the time Yellowfang dies who could take her place. Maybe Cinderpelt takes it temporarily before returning to her Warrior duties but that doesn’t feel correct either idk I know I want to change something about it.

I’d like the Warrior Code to begin being challenged in the first arc starting with A Dangerous Path. I want it to lead to the events of The Broken Code to be a massive world changing culmination of every flaw present in the code as well as the resolution to the years of questioning. I would also change Dawn of the Clans to come out AFTER AVoS so we can see the formation of the code and it’s deconstruction back to back.

I want to make Leopardstar and Blackstar's motivations surrounding Tigerstar more clear to the reader. Everything we hear is ideas from Firestar which normally is fine but the way these characters are forgiven so easily when all we see is compliance from them it's.... strange. I'm not going to make them any more sympathetic/unsympathetic but I want the reader to have a better understanding of these two leaders. Furthermore I want there to be resistance from their own cats and cats from other clans because of their past allegiance to Tigerstar (and Brokenstar for Blackstar).

Piggybacking off the previous point I want the rancid undertones of the way these cats view each other and outsiders to continue through all the arcs. The first arc feels so separated from everythibg else and Tigerstar's reign is treated a s afreak eventeven though he was just taking advantage of the mindset of clan cats that have existed for decades and continues to exist long after his death. There will be cats who pin the blame solely on Tigerstar while others can see Tigerstar was a PART of the problems that continue to exist. Maybe have that cause conflict between these two groups over the years.

I have no idea how to word this but I want Cloudtail's aetheism to challenge the idea that cats NEED beleif in Starclan to have morals like the books imply later in the series. And I want that to be expanded upon by Mothwing who beleives in an existance of Starclan but doesn't beleive they hold power over the lives of cats and could be untrustworthy. Just the idea that faith does not equate to morality or blind faith can be a detriment to those looking to abuse that power.

Making a more religiously complex series overall. I want the Tribe, The Guardians, and The Sisters to be treated with FAR more dignity and respect by the Clans and the Narrative. I want to have the clans reconized as flawed by the narrative and not as the "Correct" way to live in the series.

Uhh I want more buildup to Bloodclan. I want Bloodclan's existance to be known before The Darkest Hour and have there be foreshadowing to the pain train of death that Scourge would turn out to be. First mention would most likey come from Barley.

That's what I have off the top of my head I have more in mind but I have been fighting with this for 2 hours I need a break if yall want me to elaborate further (to the best of my ability) on anything specific then yall can shoot me an ask but for now that's all

#rewrite stuff

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whitestormsaystransrights · 3 years

Text

So I was thinking about Bluestar's Prophecy, as one does, and had a few ideas about how the stuff that happens in that book be more impactful on the first series

- First, I would make Tigerclaw the same age as Lionheart

- This makes Tigerclaw Bluestar's childhood friend

- To still keep things intact, Thistleclaw and Bluestar become warriors before Tigerclaw

- So one day, when Tigerclaw's mentor is sick, they three of them go on patrol where they met baby Scourge, where Thistleclaw orders Tigerclaw to attack Scourge, and cause his still apprentice he does so

- Bluestar doesn't blame Tigerclaw in any way, only Thistleclaw

- After Tigerclaw (still Tigerpaw) does this Pinestar receives his vision about a great evil and then later leaves Thunderclan

- I would also remove Thrushpelt all together BUT I would instead have Redtail take his place

- That way Redtail gets a ton of character and it makes way more sense that Bluestar makes him deputy

- Redtail does all the same stuff as Thrushpelt, including covering for the kits and such

- All this stuff makes Bluestar's mental break in the main books more powerful

- Cause now her best friend Redtail is dead, Lionheart, her childhood friend is dead and Tigerclaw, they only one left, tries to kill her

- Also, my reasoning for why she doesn't make Whitestorm deputy is because she believes the position is cursed and refuses to put in him danger

- She picks Fireheart cause she believes he is protected by the prophecy

- Everything else is exactly the same

#if you have any thoughts please add on #also I would have spottedleaf just be from a later litter #bluestar #redtail #lionheart #tigerclaw #tigerstar #thistleclaw #thrushpelt #whitestorm #firestar #wc #warrior cats #not art #scourge #pinestar #bluestar's prophecy #warriors au #thunderclan

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morningmask27 · 2 years

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I know you wanted variety in aus but my head is full of these cats.. You don't need to elaborate on this one if you don't want to, I'm just sharing, but imagine Yellowfang runs away with Brokenkit au. Like, fuck it, I'm your mom and dad (bigender Yellowfang?) and I'm not gonna give you the chance to become the menace to the clans that Starclan claims you'll be. You'll grow up in peace my son.

I just think that would be nice

in this au Yellowfang would take Brokenkit with her and the two would become kittypets. Yellowfang can't really bring herself to trust twolegs, but it's safer than being a loner or a rogue while taking care of a young kit.

they would be inside cats and spayed/neutered (okay no, brokey had one litter of kits before he got neutered) and they would live happily together (Brokey is named Henry, Yellow's name is Marguerite). henry and marguerite just live happy and peaceful lives it is a bit difficult for shadowclan because they don’t have a healer (they have to get help from windclan who sends barkface over, things are pretty tanse and poor runningpaw is getting a speedtraining and still gets named runningnose(poor man))

starclan still wants shadowclan to be all broken and sad for tigerclawstar to take over and be the real revenge for having banished skyclan all those moons ago. and raggedstar is angy so he gets with foxheart and they have a litter of kits(honestly it’s also very unpleasant for foxheart to be raggedstar’s posessionmate) one of these kits does the same deal of killing raggedstar and becoming leader, thicketstar, but this time they didn’t want any of it to happen, they were just pestered by starclan the entire time to do what they did.

so they become leader, they are told by starclan to drive out windclan, to train kittens, ... all the atrocities that brokenstar would do, they do so, but they do the bare minimum. kits are apprenticed at 4 moons, but they aren’t thaught how to do vicious battle training before they get older, these apprentices also never go out to fight. so many of the kits that died because of brokenstar never died. volepaw, mosspaw, mintkit, marigoldkit, blossomkit, swampkit, badgerfang and all the others survive

but eventually the other clans are done with shadowclan’s constant pestering (probably because they sent clawface to get some thunderclan kits and killed spottedleaf in the confusion) and thunderclan kicks thicketstar out. firepaw is with them. firepaw ressembles thicket quite a lot in appearance (henry had some kits remember) and firepaw feels weirdly connected to shadowclan bref runningnose is sent to train an apprentice asap, he takes cinderkit and she becomes thunderclan’s healer, later when barkface comes back running and bark train cinderpaw before making her a full healer (it’s bonding time babey)

some of the more vile cats (brokenstar’s canon followers) flee shadowclan with him and now there’s a power vacuum. sadly if thicket tries to return to shadowclan they’ll get thoroughly stripped of their life and shadowclan might get completely stripped of its existence so they play it cool. their followers aren’t very happy with their insistence on giving up the lives and leaving the clans alone so they force thicket to stay with them and they do the battling and when tigerclaw uses the cats to throw a coup they help him. tigerclaw is banished, but thicket stays and begs fireheart to let them stay. fireheart agrees because come one, this man isn’t going to chase away his great uncle (after some genealogy tracing they realise that nutmeg, fireheart’s mother, is henry’s kit and thus the two are related)

bref tigerclaw goes to shadowclan and also after nightstar dies due to a shortage of lives because the other leader is still there tigerstar becomes leader (but he doesn’t have any extre lives this time) the tigerstar stuff still happens like in canon, the dogs get some bites on swiftpaw and brightpaw, he fire (but since yellow isn’t there and cinder din’t get hurt by the monster because well she didn’t have a reason to go there cinder follows fire and gets her leg seriously injured. mudfur and barkface team up to help her heal properly, but they have to amputate the leg because of how messed up it is. bref this doesn’t change anything about cinder’s quality of life she’s still doing her thing.)

anyways. bloodclan, yada yada scourge kills tigerstar, everyone realises that he only had one life, hah. and blackfoot also gets killed. so shadowclan has yet ANOTHER power vacuum and thicket is tasked with taking back shadowclan’s leadership. they don’t want to after everything that happened and name someone else deputy before giving up the lives they still had left and retiring in thunderclan, and being fun family for firestar and his lineage

also smudge is the one to recreate skyclan and he becomes smudgestar, the end;

#warrior cats #yellowfang #brokenstar #firestar #raggedstar #thicketstar really didn't enjoy their life #luckily they live a long and peaceful life in thunderclan #first being a warrior and then retiring and dying peacefully in their sleep somewhere in Po3 before everything goes wrong

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jayfrost-designs · 3 years

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This is also from December of last year.

I've had a new idea in my head for Darkstripe for a while now, and after getting all those other ref sheets that I needed to do done, I decided to run with it. You may have noticed a change in the name of his father in his bio. Don't worry about that just yet. I'll get to it after talking about the design.

The reverse side of his design can be seen here.

On his wiki page, Darkstripe is described as a large, lean, sleek, and thin-furred tom. I misread the "thin-furred" part of his description as "thick-furred" when I started designing this, so he ended up with a rather thick pelt. Oops. My explanation/excuse for this is that the thin-furred description comes from his appearance as a Dark Forest cat, so as a living cat he had sleek, thick fur, but after dying he started going all patchy and ragged and his fur started to get pretty thin in places. So that's my half-baked excuse for that. I went pretty free-hand with this design, but he's mostly based on Turkish Vans, and is meant to be decent-sized and muscular, with a thick mediumish pelt. He has a smaller version of his mother's ear tufts and a decent amount of scars, since he was always pretty aggresive.

For his pattern, Darkstripe is described as a dark gray tabby tom with black stripes and yellow eyes. I completely changed his design from his old one and went for a smoke tabby look for him this time around. His black stripes don't stand out as much as on his old design since the rest of the pelt is darker now, but they're still there, and he's overall a very dark-looking cat, so Dark- fits him well as a prefix. I played around with his design a lot before I was happy with it, but I'm really happy with the end result. ^^ I came up with a fresh shade of yellow for his eyes as well. ^^

Now for the fun part. Since Tawnyspots is no longer listed as his father on the official family tree, I decided to come up with a new headcanon for who his father is. I considered a few cats from ThunderClan at first, but none of them seemed to fit. But then I had a really interesting idea for his father - and for the reason he's a smoke tabby. I'll explain everything below - starting with Willowpelt's story. Apologies in advance for the length. ^^

~-~-~

As a young cat, Willowpelt gets lonely sometimes. Her sister is busy training to be a medicine cat, and Redtail throws himself into his warrior duties so much that he doesn’t spend as much time with her as either of them would like. She doesn’t begrudge either of them their ambitions - she knows Redtail wants to be the best warrior he possibly can (and later has his eye on the deputyship), and Spottedleaf will make an amazing medicine cat. But she doesn’t share their ambitions. She’s always been a much more relaxed cat, content to do her duties as a warrior, but not pushing beyond that, preferring to spend her time racing through the forest on the wild excitement of the hunt, and spend lazy days sunning in the grass, rather than busying herself with constant patrols and duties.

So while her siblings are busy with their work, Willowpelt seeks out companionship elsewhere. She’d always been curious about twolegplace, hearing stories about how their last leader had left to live there, and decided to check it out one day. She doesn’t find Pinestar - but she does find some friendly kittypets who welcome the visit of a real wild Clan cat. She continued to visit occasionally over the moons, whenever she’s feeling particularly lonely. She’s never swayed by the thought of becoming a kittypet herself - she loves her Clan, and her freedom, too much - but she’s happy to visit her kittypet friends whenever she can.

She grows particularly close with a sleek, handsome smoke tom called Sparky. A few moons later, she finds herself expecting the tom’s kits. The two aren’t in love, and Sparky rejects Willowpelt’s offer to join ThunderClan and help raise the kits, but it’s all very amicable and the two remain on close terms. Willowpelt is perfectly happy to raise her kits alone. She later gives birth to a single tom, Darkkit, who looks remarkably like his father. The Clan gossips a little about who the father could possibly be (Willowpelt covers her tracks visiting Twolegplace better than Featherstorm had), but overall they’re just happy to have another kit after the nursery has been empty so long, since White-eye’s last litter.

Willowpelt plans to tell Darkkit about his parentage when he’s old enough, but the young tom grows bitter after moons of some of the stricter cats whispering about his unknown parentage, and the loneliness of being the only kit in the nursery. Willowpelt always assures him that there’s nothing wrong with him and is a fiercely loving mother, but her laidback attitude about borders and rules bothers him - other warriors take these things seriously, so shouldn’t she? A kernel of doubt begins to weed its way onto Darkkit’s mind - what if Willowpelt won’t tell anyone who his father is because his father doesn’t want him? What if it was because he isn’t good enough to be this mystery tom's son? Willowpelt longs to comfort her son that his father does care and does want to be part of his life, but she’s not sure he’s old enough to understand the truth about his father, so she waits.

With all this doubt and bitterness swirling inside him, it’s no surprise that upon becoming an apprentice, Darkpaw immediately attaches himself to the first cat who seems ready to take him seriously and see some potential in him - his new mentor Tigerclaw. To Darkpaw, Tigerclaw is everything a warrior should be. He has the strength of TigerClan, the courage of LionClan, and is the wisest, most loyal warrior in the entire Clan in the young tom’s eyes. He can’t believe his luck in snagging such a skilled and brave warrior as his mentor, and quickly learns to worship the ground Tigerclaw walks on. A secret part of his heart wonders whether Tigerclaw is his father. They both have dark tabby pelts and fur that grows darker at the points, and while Darkpaw isn’t nearly as tall and long-furred as the older tom, he’s still broader and taller than his mother, and could have inherited that from Tigerclaw. He works tirelessly to mold himself after Tigerclaw’s image and takes all of his training to heart - including his views on loyalty and cats from outside of the Clan.

Willowpelt had intended to tell Darkpaw about his father a moon or so into his training, but the longer he trained with Tigerclaw, the more disdainful he grew of cats outside of the warrior code, especially kittypets. She worries about how much the tom has changed, but he doesn’t seem willing to listen to her anymore, so there’s little she can do to curb Tigerclaw’s influence on her son. She resolved to continue hiding the truth of his father, as Darkpaw is probably happier not knowing the truth, and resolves to keep an eye on her son. It’s not all bad, she assures herself. Tigerclaw has taken the fatherless tom under his wing just as Thistleclaw had done for him, and he seems genuinely proud of his young apprentice - in his own stoic way - and is molding him into a strong warrior. As long as Darkpaw is happy, that’s what matters - right?

Though Darkpaw, then later Darkstripe definitely grows more scornful of others and more conceited over the moons, Willowpelt tries to stay optimistic. He’s a bit of a jerk, yes, but otherwise he seems like a perfectly loyal and happy warrior. But that illusion starts to chip away little by little after Tigerclaw’s exile as Darkstripe continues to show an unhealthy attachment to such a traitor, and then comes crashing down completely the day that Darkstripe tries to poison his own half sister. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Clan, Willowpelt sneaks out after Darkstripe as he’s departing the territory for his exile.

Rage and heartbreak bubble under her pelt in equal measures as she faces her eldest son. Something inside of her is wailing at the loss of the son that she’d loved, and her failure to protect him from becoming this, but the rest of her feels an icy calm. She faces Darkstripe, coldly informing him that if he’s fool enough to follow Tigerstar on his rampage against “impure” cats, then he’d better hand himself over as well for being impure. He’s the very thing that he’s always hated, the thing that he has been relentless in mocking Firestar for being - he’s half kittypet. Darkstripe flies into a rage, shrieking that it isn’t true, it can’t be true, that Willowpelt never loved him and is just lying to make him doubt himself. He tries to attack his mother, but she dances out of range, still glaring at him with icy calm while her heart continues to wail its pain inside of her. She tells him that she loved him with all of her heart, and that if he’d let go of his bitterness and his unhealthy devotion to an admitted traitor long enough he would’ve seen that, but that now it’s too late. She’ll always love him, but she will never forgive him for what he’s done to her daughter. She leaves him there on the border between ThunderClan and TigerClan. He hesitates, but only for a moment. Then he slips into TigerClan territory.

Unfortunately, Darkstripe’s reception at the TigerClan camp is chillier than expected. It was true that Tigerstar had once felt genuine pride and companionship for Darkstripe as his apprentice and as a fellow warrior. He’d always known that Darkstripe was a bit of a suck-up, but he was still strong and a powerful warrior in his own right, and Tigerstar had been proud of the efforts of his first run as a mentor. However, his opinion of Darkstripe had lessened after the tom refused to follow him into exile, and had dropped even more sharply after one of his Twolegplace allies had told him about a smoke kittypet who’d mentioned being friends with forest cats. Tigerstar had taken the chance to spy on the kittypet from a tree one day, only to be shocked at the sight of a cat nearly identical to Darkstripe.

After that, Tigerstar had put together the pieces and realized that Darkstripe was the son of a kittypet. He tells Darkstripe as much when he arrives in TigerClan, glaring down at the groveling tom with a sneer. That kittypet blood has tainted him with weakness, he claimed, weakness that had kept him from following Tigerstar into exile, that had made him fail again and again at Tigerstar’s commands as his spy, and that had made him fail at the simple task of killing one insignificant little kit. Darkstripe quivers before the tom, protesting that it couldn’t be true, though with Tigerstar’s account of the smoke kittypet, he’s starting to realize that it must be. He wails that he’d never known, that Willowpelt had hidden it from him, that she is the true traitor. He didn’t care who his father was, he whimpers - his loyalty was to Tigerstar, it had always been to Tigerstar, and it always would be.

Tigerstar watched the sniveling display with disdain. The tom was undoubtedly tainted by the weakness of his blood, but he’d always shown devotion to Tigerstar. Perhaps he could be given one last chance - but only one. He tells the tom that if he is ever to be anything but the sniveling son of a kittypet, he must prove himself willing to eradicate any disloyalty in the new Clan and pledge himself entirely loyal. He considers ordering the tom to hunt down his kittypet father and slay him, or to sneak into ThunderClan territory and kill his treacherous mother. But there are more pressing concerns facing his Clan right now, and he can’t have one of his warriors off on some lengthy mission to get one well-guarded cat alone when TigerClan is on the verge of conquering the other Clans. Such tests of his loyalty can come later. For now, perhaps a simpler task will do. He still needs someone to take care of those halfClan prisoners after all...

Of course, Darkstripe fails in that task too, and Tigerstar’s rage at yet another failure from his half-kittypet lackey is fearsome to behold. It is only the need for every fighting warrior available for the battle to come that keeps Tigerstar from punishing Darkstripe more severely. A worse fate may have awaited Darkstripe after the battle’s end, had Tigerstar not fallen under Scourge’s claws. And yet, Darkstripe continues his nearly obsessive devotion to the cat he still thinks of as his true father, even if he isn’t a father by blood, and he ends up dying in his quest to avenge the murderous tom. And yet, even a death in service to Tigerstar isn’t enough to truly raise him in the tom’s eyes, and he spends his seasons in the Dark Forest being overshadowed by a Tigerstar’s true sons, until the end of the Dark Battle leaves him to wander alone in the darkness forever.

~-~-~

Anyway, that’s my mini-essay on Darkstripe’s father and life story. XD Overall, I'm really happy with how his design turned out, and I had a lot of fun coming up with his parents' story and his story in regards to thinking of Tigerstar as his father. I also like how silhouette-wise, he looks a fair bit like Graystripe, but their patterns make them decently distinct from each other.

#Warriors #Warrior Cats #Erin Hunter #WC #Darkstripe #Darkpaw #Darkkit #ThunderClan #Rogue #ShadowClan #RiverClan #TigerClan #The Prophecies Begin #The Dark Forest #Dark Forest #Place of No Stars #Kittypet

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staircasttext · 3 years

Text

Ep 19: Beaver Tales

Episode 19

[intro music]

PAZ: Hi everyone, welcome back to Stairway to StarClan, a Warriors Cat reread pawdcast. I'm Paz.

JULIAN: I'm Julian.

LIZ: And I'm Liz.

PAZ: And we're back again this week with chapters seven to 10 of Forest of Secrets. I almost said Fire and Ice. No, we're done with that. Kind of a lot of in camp activities these chapters, I would say.

JULIAN: Yeah, some tightly focused drama.

PAZ: Yeah. I don't know anything, any pressing pre-summary thoughts, or should we just go into it?

LIZ: Let's just hop right in.

PAZ: Okay. Chapter seven. After Bluestar dismisses Fireheart, he bumps into Cinderpaw on her way to find herbs for Yellowfang and accompanies her. On the way out, they see Cloudkit and the other kits taunting Brokentail. Fireheart is conflicted and angry, and snatches Cloudkit away from Brokentail, telling the other kits to go back to the nursery. Darkstripe calls Fireheart a kittypet again, and Fireheart explains to Cloudkit what that means. He also tells Cloudkit that they were both kittypets, which shocks Cloudkit. Cloudkit vows to become a good warrior anyway, and Fireheart reminds him about being honorable.

Cinderpaw checks on Brokentail and Darkstripe returns into the den. Fireheart and Cinderpaw let Cloudkit come with them to find herbs, and she teaches Cloudkit a bit of what she's learned about foraging. While they talk about Cloudkit's future, Cloudkit eats some-- doesn't eat. That'd be bad if he. Cloudkit almost eats some poisonous berries before Cinderpaw stops him. Cloudkit, dead. He's dead now.

LIZ: Dead in Miami.

PAZ: Dead in chapter seven of Forest of Secrets. No, that didn't happen. He takes her warning seriously. Afterwards, Cinderpaw wonders what her future will be like, feeling uncertain and pained, and Fireheart encourages her to talk to Bluestar. He thinks briefly about Bluestar's reaction to Graypool's story again, and thinks to himself that it's beyond his understanding.

Chapter eight. Fireheart has a disturbing dream about kits suckling from a faceless grey queen, who then disappears. Spottedleaf appears, sheltering the kits, and the dream ends. When he wakes up, he thinks about Graypool's story again, noticing that Graystripe is also missing, seeing Silverstream, of course. He and Sandstorm decide to go hunting, taking poor Brackenpaw with them since Graystripe has forgotten about him again. Brackenpaw catches a bird, but they suddenly hear the sound of a kit in danger. They find a badger menacing Cloudkit and manage to chase it off. They wonder about how strange it was for a badger to be out in daytime. Cloudkit is returned safely to Brindleface, but Tigerclaw punishes him for wasting everyone's time, though isn't Cloudkit's fault. His punishment is to clean up for the elders.

Meanwhile, Yellowfang has taken Brokentail outside to talk about newleaf, while Darkstripe and Longtail act as guards. She's very gentle and motherly, but Brokentail doesn't respond. Fireheart watches sadly, thinking of mothers and kits, and then Mistyfoot and Stonefur again.

Chapter nine. While Cinderpaw tends to Brackenpaw's wounds from attacking the badger, Fireheart checks in on Cloudkit and helps him with tending to the elders. Fireheart tells him about having to tend to Yellowfang's ticks, her ass ticks, when he was younger, which cheers Cloudkit up.

Later, Fireheart sees Tigerclaw sneaking out of camp, so he decides to follow him. He notices Tigerclaw is getting close to Twolegplace, wondering if he's trying to track down Princess to hurt her. Fireheart also happens to catch a mouse on the way, which gives him an alibi for hunting, when he literally bumps into Tigerclaw soon after.

When Tigerclaw returns to camp, Fireheart checks around Twolegplace, where he smells that a lot of strange, unknown cats have been around in addition to Tigerclaw. He also meets with Princess briefly, and he tells her about how well Cloudkit is growing up, promising to bring him to see her in newleaf. On the way back to camp, he sees that newleaf's thaw has started.

Chapter 10. Fireheart tells Bluestar about the strange cat scents, and she says she'll send patrols out, thinking they might be rogues from Twolegplace. Two days later, newleaf has truly arrived, and there's plenty of food to hunt. Fireheart is pleased to see Cloudkit continuing to tend to the elders, even after his punishment has ended. Tigerclaw tells Fireheart to patrol the RiverClan border and renew the scent markings, and Fireheart realizes Tigerclaw is too clever to be hostile to him in public. He takes some other warriors with him, including Sandstorm and Graystripe, who is the most excited in case he sees Silverstream. However, they don't smell any RiverClan cats at all. The river has overflowed from the thaw, flooding Sunningrocks. And that's the end of the readings this week. What? Does anybody want to say anything?

JULIAN: Sorry, I was on the Wikipedia page for badgers again. Just for when we get to it.

PAZ: The Wikipedia page or like the Warriors wiki page?

JULIAN: No, the regular Wikipedia page.

PAZ: Oh, okay.

JULIAN: I was not on the Warriors wiki page, although I'm sure that's a rich vein.

LIZ: Oh, I'll check.

PAZ: No, don't. There's spoilers. Don't check.

LIZ: I'll just read the first sentence, how about that. There's only the first sentence and then the contents, like table of contents. They do have a picture of a real badger on there.

PAZ: That's beautiful.

LIZ: Not an illustrated one. "Badgers are thickset medium-sized animals with huge muscles and beady eyes that are mainly active at night, and are enemies to cats in the Warriors series." There you go.

JULIAN: Hot damn.

PAZ: Huge muscles.

JULIAN: The thing that I was reading on the actual Wikipedia page for badgers is that apparently they're usually pretty chill, unless they're cornered.

PAZ: Yeah, I thought so.

JULIAN: Yeah, it's saying that they often live alongside and will share their burrows with red foxes.

LIZ: Ooh.

PAZ: Wow.

JULIAN: "Foxes provide badgers with food scraps, and badgers maintain the shared burrows' cleanliness."

LIZ: Roommates.

PAZ: Wow, love is real.

JULIAN: "Although sometimes this can go wrong, and cases are known of badgers driving vixens from their dens and destroying their litters."

PAZ: [gasp]

LIZ: [gasp] Oh.

JULIAN: "In return, red foxes are known to have killed badger cubs in spring."

LIZ: Roommates to enemies.

PAZ: Roommates to enemies.

JULIAN: Sometimes your roommate situation goes south.

PAZ: Yeah, it can be like that with roommates. Yeah, I'm like, I thought badgers were fairly chill. They're not like wolverines.

LIZ: No.

JULIAN: No, they're pretty chill unless you corner them. And that's not what happened here.

PAZ: Maybe this badger has rabies. That was my first thought when it was like, it's out in the daytime.

JULIAN: Oh, that's possible.

PAZ: I was like, does this badger have rabies? Is Brackenpaw gonna get rabies?

LIZ: No.

JULIAN: He hasn't had his shots.

PAZ: Exactly. He hasn't had his rabies shots.

LIZ: This is why Fireheart is like the chosen one, or whatever.

PAZ: Speaking of Brackenpaw, poor Brackenpaw.

JULIAN: God.

LIZ: Poor little guy.

JULIAN: Fuckin, Graystripe, do your job. Do your job.

LIZ: How often does he have to see his girlfriend?

PAZ: Every hour of every day, apparently.

JULIAN: Like I get it. They don't have Skype. They can't write each other letters or like text or whatever. But like, you gotta deal.

LIZ: Make a schedule.

PAZ: Just go out at night, or something.

JULIAN: Have a weekly date night. And then be normal.

PAZ: I'm glad that the text pointed out that Graystripe sucks and is a bad teacher again because he is.

LIZ: Poor Brackenpaw.

JULIAN: Well, and it's having serious impacts on-- yeah. It's having serious impacts on Brackenpaw's like emotional health. He's really unsure of himself. And like, even when he did a really good job fighting off the badger, he's like, oh no, I'm sure it wasn't that-- like I didn't do that good.

LIZ: Brackenpaw is very cool. He caught a bird out of the air and then was very self-conscious about that.

PAZ: Yeah, he did a double-jump.

LIZ: Yeah. Where'd he learn that? Not Graystripe.

PAZ: Hell no. Graystripe wouldn't fight a badger. Graystripe would just leave.

JULIAN: Graystripe would leave the badger for someone else to deal with.

LIZ: There's that part where like Brackenpaw's like, oh, all the other apprentices are so much younger, but they're gonna be warriors before me.

PAZ: I know.

JULIAN: Also, like, Graystripe, do your job. Also Bluestar do your job.

PAZ: Bluestar... horrible leader.

JULIAN: Or-- not to be like, Tigerclaw should get in here. But like, if he's going to be aggressive and mean, maybe he should be aggressive and mean about the actual problems.

LIZ: He should just ground Graystripe for like a month.

JULIAN: Graystripe can deal with the elders' ticks.

PAZ: Okay, like, not to be like Tigerclaw's right again. But him giving Cloudkit a little like, oh, take care of the elders punishment seemed to work. Cloudkit gained some emotional maturity from that, so.

JULIAN: Yeah, I do have a note that's like his reasoning sucks, but this is good for Cloudkit.

PAZ: Yeah, Cloudkit needed that.

JULIAN: Also like, it integrates him better with the clan. Again, worst person you know made a great point.

LIZ: It's very funny. He just became like a mean teacher for a second. It's like, this is the 90s movie where Cloudkit is like the rowdy new transfer. Tigerclaw's like his mean math teacher or something, and he gives him extra homework. It makes his math better. I don't know. Is that how the movies go? Math, right? Math.

PAZ: Yeah. Uh-huh.

JULIAN: I didn't have a TV, so.

PAZ: Sure.

JULIAN: Yes?

LIZ: Well, I've never seen a movie, so we are equal here.

PAZ: I think we jumped around a little bit though. I guess we can--

JULIAN: We did. We jumped straight to chapter eight.

PAZ: I forgot when that happened. For some reason I thought Brackenpaw being abandoned started in chapter seven, but it is not. It's Cinderpaw.

LIZ: Just start, in my mind, poor guy.

JULIAN: Oh, Cinderpaw.

PAZ: Once again, Cinderpaw seems to be doing just fine. But Fireheart's manpain, like internal narrative is terrible. Be quiet.

JULIAN: There is a line about how he's not in the mood for sharing tongues with his friends, which I know we've covered this before. I will never get used to sharing tongues.

LIZ: Why isn't it just called cleaning?

JULIAN: Grooming.

LIZ: Yeah.

JULIAN: Well...

LIZ: There's a word for it. You got it.

PAZ: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know who decided that would be the term for it.

LIZ: Also, since we did like start out with, you know, seeing how like, we got to see how Brackenpaw felt about his situation, it's kind of like an capital-I Interesting contrast to see that in like Cinderpaw, cause we don't really get to see much of that, just kind of like Fireheart's man pain.

PAZ: I mean, she does like voice her feelings in this part, where she's like, I don't really know what I'm doing because we only have three jobs in our society. And no one's told me now what I should do.

LIZ: I guess it's like the way it cycles back to Fireheart, which...

PAZ: Yeah, that's true.

JULIAN: Yeah, the framing is very like Fireheart-centric, in a way that I wish it were not.

PAZ: Yeah, I agree.

JULIAN: God, it is like, he's so close, because there's one point where-- let me find the portion. Yeah. "Cinderpaw was brave and intelligent, and before her accident, she had shown endless energy and commitment to the clan. Surely that couldn't all be thrown away." Yeah, Fireheart, surely it couldn't. Like he's soooooo close. And yet so far away.

LIZ: My guy.

JULIAN: Like I'm glad she's found something that she can do, but blehhhhh.

LIZ: She was given one option by one person.

JULIAN: Well, and it's also in the like bit with the deathberries, um, like she does move very quickly when required. When the plot requires her to be able to move quickly, she sure can.

PAZ: Yeah, it's almost like she could hunt and stuff fine if anyone would just let her, or do anything else.

JULIAN: It's like right after he sees that that Fireheart is like, damn. Too bad she's helpless.

PAZ: Yeah, speaking of helplessness-- disability framed as helplessness, all this stuff with Brokentail at the start of chapter seven is also like what the hell.

LIZ: Ooh. Yikes.

JULIAN: It's so fucked.

LIZ: It's fucked.

PAZ: It frames him as completely helpless. I'm like, all he is is blind. He didn't like...

LIZ: He's still like an adult cat.

JULIAN: Right, he still has claws and like teeth. I fully expected him to kill one of the kits.

PAZ: He's just barely reacted. It's so weird.

JULIAN: Yeah, it's also just like, you know, I'm glad that Fireheart like takes Cloudkit aside and is like, Hey, don't do that.

LIZ: Yeah, it's fucking shitty. Don't do it.

JULIAN: But yeah, the fact that like-- and you know, it is framed as like a fucked up thing that the kits have done to like be taunting their prisoner, their disabled prisoner, but oooh! Yeesh.

PAZ: Yeah, it's like, it's one thing to like-- there was sort of a part where like Darkstripe like threatened Brokentail when like he almost clawed them, but like it wasn't really being framed as like, he's not doing it because he'll get, like, beat up by the guard. It was like-- he just barely reacted. And it was like, oh he couldn't track where the kits were. I'm like, he still has ears. He still has whiskers.

JULIAN: He has ears and whiskers and like scent.

LIZ: That's mostly what they hunt with anyway. It's not like they use their incredible bird's eye view to hunt the mouse.

JULIAN: Yeah, all the descriptions of hunting are like, oh, they hear the mouse rustling in the grass. Like they can't see the mouse.

PAZ: It's so weird.

LIZ: I mean, like we know why it's like this, and it's because the author didn't put the work into it to like-- just thinks this is the only way you can write your disabled character.

JULIAN: Yeah, I guess it really is sort of one finger curls on the monkey's paw. We were like, oh, I wish there were another disabled character besides Cinderpaw.

PAZ: Mm.

JULIAN: And we got one, and...

PAZ: Somehow worse.

JULIAN: He literally has Broken in the name.

PAZ: Yeah, but that scene-- oh, go ahead.

JULIAN: And then Fireheart gets-- oh sorry, I was gonna say, and then Fireheart gets to explain racism to Cloudkit.

LIZ: Oh my god.

PAZ: He literally says we have to work twice as hard. Oh my God.

JULIAN: Head in my hands.

PAZ: It's a kids book so I'll let it pass, but it is very funny.

LIZ: When's Cloudkit gonna have his lunchbox moment?

JULIAN: Oh God.

PAZ: He has his little catnip mouse. All the warriors are like, ew, what's that?

LIZ: Fuck.

JULIAN: Oh, God.

PAZ: Princess gives him some Temptations to take back to camp.

JULIAN: To bring home to them. To all his friends.

LIZ: And when all his friends are like, you know, in college, they're gonna be going to all the overpriced fusion Temptations bars.

PAZ: Oh god.

JULIAN: All the catnip lounges.

LIZ: Terrible.

JULIAN: Also, not only is Fireheart explaining racism to Cloudkit, but he's also telling Cloudkit that he's adopted, which is a lot.

PAZ: Yeah, I mean to be fair, Fireheart thought that he already knew.

JULIAN: Which is also, how did he not know?

PAZ: I don't know. I guess he just never like brought it up with Brindleface.

JULIAN: But they were all teasing him for being a kittypet.

PAZ: Were they?

LIZ: Maybe.

JULIAN: I think so.

PAZ: I don't know if they ever did it to his face.

JULIAN: I guess it was mostly like-- yeah.

PAZ: Well, he said like, so that's why everyone hates me but I don't know if anyone ever called him a kittypet like to his face.

JULIAN: Yeah, no, I think you're right. Damn.

PAZ: I do love that Cloudkit says, "'so that's why the other cats hate me,' he spat. 'They think I'll never be any good because I wasn't born in this dump of a forest.'"

LIZ: Get 'em.

PAZ: So good. Get 'em.

LIZ: I love his like immediate turnaround like fuck this house. None of you are my dad.

PAZ: He's such a funny child.

JULIAN: There's a bit later where when Fireheart meets with Princess, he's like, yeah, your son's doing great. Um, and then mentally he's like, yeah, and he's spoiled and like nosy. But I do love him.

PAZ: He's very fun.

LIZ: Just a little rowdy boy.

PAZ: Yeah, he's a little brat rowdy boy.

LIZ: He's definitely like a season two protagonist.

JULIAN: Mm, mm-hmm.

LIZ: Know what I mean?

PAZ: Yeah? You think, second series?

LIZ: Mm-hmm. It's like, no, it's not about the power of friendship anymore. It's about the power of me winning the sports game, except it is friendship, but I have to get through a couple of my own walls first, because of--

JULIAN: What sport do you think the cats will be inventing?

LIZ: What's a good one for them to play? Soccer. There you go.

PAZ: Yeah, they would love to bat a little ball around.

JULIAN: Or like a sort of--

LIZ: A moss ball.

JULIAN: I was gonna say, sort of a, like, Maya toss ball situation, where you have to get the ball into the hoop.

LIZ: They can have one more job then. It's hoop maker.

JULIAN: Hoop maker and athlete.

PAZ: Wow.

JULIAN: Two more jobs. Three more jobs if they need referees.

PAZ: Wow. They can do like, like inter clan sports competitions, and that'll get all the bloodlust out when they just, you know, they play sports.

JULIAN: What if the cats have football riots though?

LIZ: They would. They will. It's terrible. Who's England in this situation?

JULIAN: ThunderClan, right?

LIZ: Yeah. Boo.

PAZ: Has to be.

JULIAN: Like, thinks they're good, has done many crimes.

PAZ: Exactly.

JULIAN: Although I guess ShadowClan is like the most obviously expansionist, so.

PAZ: They're all England.

LIZ: Ugh.

JULIAN: Maybe ThunderClan is like Germany

LIZ: They'll also probably need more like medics. So that's not a new job, but it is like expanding it.

PAZ: Yeah, more than two doctors.

LIZ: Oh, what a luxury.

JULIAN: More than one and a half doctors.

PAZ: Speaking of the doctors, it's very like stupid that Cinderpaw's like, oh I don't know what I'll do. And it's like, you're acting as the medicine cat. Throughout all these chapters, you were just a second doctor. And Fireheart's also like, I have no idea. Oh, you'll have to talk to Bluestar.

LIZ: Assigned doctor.

PAZ: I bet Yellowfang's gonna be like, um, I thought you were already my apprentice like three weeks ago.

LIZ: Well, did she ask?

PAZ: I guess, I don't know. It's just like--

LIZ: Listen, these cats are pretty dense.

JULIAN: Yellowfang seems like the kind of character who doesn't ask for things but sort of tries to trick people into doing nice things for them. She's like, oh, uh, oh, whoops, I made all this soup. You have to eat it or it'll go to waste.

LIZ: Tricks you into a paying job.

JULIAN: Yeah, Cinderpaw has a little moment where she's like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna have to move out of Yellowfang's den. And it's like, will you? I don't think you will. Has she asked you to?

LIZ: She probably already made you a room.

PAZ: Yeah, I'm pretty sure she has a bed there. I mean not just like her, like recovering bed.

JULIAN: Yellowfang like carefully decorating the walls while Cinderpaw's out.

LIZ: Yellowfang makes her a Welcome Home Temptations cake with a little ribbon.

PAZ: Cinderpaw also says, "ever since I was a tiny kit I wanted to be like Bluestar," and I'm like, no you don't.

LIZ: No. I mean she probably did.

JULIAN: Yeah, that's the lie of being a girlboss.

PAZ: I think you're better off.

JULIAN: Yeah, it seems like Bluestar isn't doing so hot.

LIZ: The part where Fireheart tells her like, oh, Bluestar will know what to do.

PAZ: I know. I was like, I don't think so.

JULIAN: When has Bluestar ever known what to do?

LIZ: For like five chapters in the first book.

PAZ: Yeah, and in like the beginning of book two with WindClan. And then it was kinda over.

LIZ: I don't know what's happening lately. Maybe she got taken over by the ghost of a cat that's not good at being...

JULIAN: Speaking of Yellowfang, the scenes with her and Brokentail are so sad.

PAZ: Like her being like, she's being motherly to him, and him just like, absolutely not responding. Of course he doesn't know that she's his mom.

JULIAN: Right. Woof.

LIZ: [sighs]

PAZ: Drama.

LIZ: There's a part where it says like, she makes like little mom noises at him.

PAZ: Yeah, I was in tears.

JULIAN: Or like, she was like grooming him, and like he does not even move.

LIZ: Aw.

JULIAN: Yellowfang, it's okay. You have so many other children.

PAZ: I know. This kid sucks.

JULIAN: You have so many children who don't suck.

PAZ: I guess we didn't really talk about that prophecy dream Fireheart had, but it wasn't really that interesting.

JULIAN: Yeah, it didn't really tell us anything that we don't already know.

PAZ: Yeah, it was just Spottedleaf being like Fireheart, you idiot. You know who those kits are.

LIZ: Who's that gray cat?

PAZ: I don't know.

LIZ: Well, there are so many gray cats, just.

PAZ: It's true.

LIZ: Like there's definitely more than-- like I knew about them, but it just seems more pointed out now for some reason. Is that just me? Like, it talks about how Cinderpelt is-- sorry, Cinderpaw. I know what happens later, name-wise. How she's gray. We already know Graystripe's gray. There's Graypool, there's Silverstream, there's that other guy. There's Yellowfang?

JULIAN: Stonefur?

PAZ: No, Yellowfang has black fur, I think.

JULIAN: Or like dark brown.

LIZ: Dark brown?

PAZ: Yeah. Persian cat.

JULIAN: Yeah, it does feel like they're like, hey, look, like all these gray cats. Parallels.

LIZ: It's cause there's no black and white.

PAZ: Was Oakheart gray too? How many fucking gray cats were there?

LIZ: Lots.

JULIAN: [typing] Oakheart Warriors wiki. He was... uh, no. He was reddish-brown.

PAZ: Well.

LIZ: That's a lot more uncommon, I think, like a reddish brown cat that isn't like a tabby or something. Like you ever see a brown cat? Like a brown brown cat?

JULIAN: I have, but it's definitely, like--

PAZ: Just pure brown? Yeah, those are a--

JULIAN: A weird-looking color.

PAZ: Those kinds of cats always look really smooth. It's probably a breed, that kind I'm thinking of.

LIZ: They look like just little like wild cats.

JULIAN: Oh, it's a Havana Brown.

LIZ: Hmm.

PAZ: We already talked about Brackenpaw being abandoned. The badger, of course,

LIZ: I don't know, does he become more prominent later?

PAZ: Brackenpaw?

JULIAN: Who?

LIZ: Yeah.

PAZ: I cannot-- I literally cannot remember.

JULIAN: Yeah, I also super do not remember.

LIZ: Is there like, I don't know, like, just like a fanfiction that's like a day in the life of Brackenpaw? What's he do? Poor guy.

PAZ: I feel like maybe I remember this scene.

JULIAN: I don't see anything like super big that he does later, but.

LIZ: Aw. Okay, new Patreon goal. Listen, if we get to $420. I don't know what'll happen.

PAZ: Oh. Sorry, I'm just reading something. I forgot who he mentored.

JULIAN: There is a nice little sentence here, first paragraph. "He was apprenticed early with the name Brackenpaw, mentored by Graystripe. However, Graystripe neglected his duties." Hell yeah he did.

LIZ: Bitch.

PAZ: "And Brackenpaw's training was mostly completed by Fireheart." Uh-huh.

LIZ: Yeah.

JULIAN: Yep.

PAZ: That's right.

LIZ: It's definitely more apparent in these chapters like that the other cats are picking up the slack, too, which is nice, but.

JULIAN: Yeah, Whitestorm and the other guy are like, yeah, we're gonna take all the cats out, all the apprentices out for a hunt.

PAZ: School field trip.

LIZ: But is it like-- does it feel like, oh, I'm like a sixth grader, and these are all first graders?

PAZ: Yeah, that seems to be the vibe because Brackenpaw's like really upset about it.

LIZ: He can't talk about Fortnite with them. They're too young.

JULIAN: Oh shit, new pixel art of Graystripe just dropped.

PAZ: Oh shit.

LIZ: What?

JULIAN: I think this is new. I don't remember seeing this. He's all fluffy in this pixel art. From the Warriors wiki.

LIZ: Whoa.

PAZ: Whoa. Why's he so dark?

JULIAN: I know, right?

LIZ: No, it's because he's wet from being in Riverclan all the time.

PAZ: Of course.

LIZ: [snickers]

PAZ: What? Got that trap neuter return ear?

LIZ: I was just gonna say that. What happened to you, Graystripe?

PAZ: Maybe if his balls got cut off that would solve a lot of problems.

JULIAN: God.

LIZ: I think he'd still be a bitch. He didn't have a girlfriend when he was like, mm, I don't know about this Tigerclaw being a murder thing

PAZ: God, I can't get over that. I mean, there's a badger scene. There's Cloudkit getting his punishment.

LIZ: What is the level of sentience that badgers have here?

PAZ: I don't know.

JULIAN: Well. I mean, there's some stuff later. But I don't know about badgers in general.

PAZ: Yeah, I don't know if all badgers are sentient or not.

LIZ: Okay, well, the way you guys said that made me think there's like a special badger.

PAZ: No comment.

LIZ: Hmm.

JULIAN: I really love how much of this description is clearly copied from Wikipedia or like an encyclopedia article about badgers. I don't think that it's been revealed anywhere in the Warrior books that male and female badgers generally have the same head-body length falling between 56 and 90 centimeters.

LIZ: God bless.

JULIAN: I just don't think the cats are thinking in centimeters.

LIZ: Oh, they use inches?

JULIAN: Oh, there's a source for all this. Oh, it's revealed on animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu. Yep.

PAZ: Of course.

JULIAN: I do love that they continue to use the revealed language for...

PAZ: It's so funny. I was reading about the supposed Warriors film and it was of course, all revealed on variety.com.

LIZ: Variety?

PAZ: Yeah.

LIZ: I see.

JULIAN: Oh, this badger looks so cute. There's a badger art from the badger from Secrets of the Clans, which is one of the Warrior guidebooks, and it has--

PAZ: Oh my gosh.

LIZ: Oh my god.

JULIAN: The roundest, softest face.

PAZ: Oh my god, I'm in tears.

LIZ: Oh my god.

PAZ: This badger looks like the picture of the cat who's been photoshopped to be crying.

LIZ: What has this badger seen?

JULIAN: Also, that's not a Eurasian badger. That's an American badger.

PAZ: Yeah, that is definitely not.

JULIAN: That's the wrong species.

LIZ: What the fuck's a Eurasian badger look like?

JULIAN: It's got the long--

PAZ: It's the classic like black and white striped one, right?

JULIAN: Yeah, so like if you look at the picture at the top of the wiki article, it's a badger with a much longer face with stripes that go all the way down. And that's a Eurasian badger, and the American badger has a much rounder babier looking face.

LIZ: What a sad looking little guy. What have you seen? Do you think the American badger's looking over at like England or whatever with its incredible Hawkeye vision like, oh, that poor little Brackenpaw. If it was me, I wouldn't have attacked a little baby kitten. Oh, those poor cats.

JULIAN: Oh, I'm sorry. I know we got to move off of the Wikipedia page, but I found an amazing picture of an American badger.

PAZ: Please.

LIZ: We'll post these badger pictures on the Twitter. Don't you guys worry.

PAZ: If we remember. Oh my god.

JULIAN: Look at that lad!

LIZ: Oh my God. Oh my god.

PAZ: Holy shit.

LIZ: This looks fake.

PAZ: This looks like they stretched the jpeg.

JULIAN: It's on illinois.gov.

LIZ: What?

JULIAN: It's on the Department of Natural Resources.

PAZ: [wheezing] What is-- what--

LIZ: Chunky.

PAZ: What's wrong with its head?

JULIAN: I mean, they fucking, they all look like this.

LIZ: Nothing. It's perfect.

JULIAN: Here's from the Encyclopedia Britannica.

PAZ: Oh my god.

LIZ: I didn't know they looked like this.

JULIAN: Look at him. There he goes, trot, trot.

LIZ: His powerful stance.

PAZ: They're so wide. I can't. They look like potatoes.

JULIAN: Absolute legend.

LIZ: That's how they make those tunnels. They just like wiggle.

JULIAN: Here's a European badger, just to like for comparison. We can-- I'm putting all these images in the chat so we can tweet them later. Just a long boy. Just a looong slinky boy.

PAZ: Yeah, that's a much less wide, wide lad.

LIZ: Very classic.

PAZ: Still very round nose.

JULIAN: Oh, here's one running.

LIZ: Oh my god.

JULIAN: Thank you Shutterstock. Thank you Shutterstock. Thank you whichever photographer hid out in a wild, in like a lane somewhere in England.

PAZ: Oh my god. Look at it go.

JULIAN: To catch this lad.

LIZ: Oh my god.

PAZ: It looks like--

LIZ: He go.

PAZ: You know the like boom mic on TVs that they--

LIZ: Yes.

PAZ: It looks like one of those.

JULIAN: Oh, I love him.

LIZ: What's that thing you keep telling me to get for my mic?

PAZ: Oh, a pop filter?

LIZ: Yeah. He looks like a pop filter.

JULIAN: I'm also seeing an image that says, it's a infographic about the differences between the European badger and American badger, but [laughing] the European badger is clearly a beaver.

LIZ: Wait.

JULIAN: Like, could not more clearly be a beaver.

PAZ: What?

LIZ: Wait a minute. Is this just a little nature joke? Little humor?

JULIAN: No, this is a whole... everything you need to know.

LIZ: Oh dear.

PAZ: Well, the first thing you need to know is that's not the European badger.

JULIAN: That's not a fucking badger. Oh, I know that this is clearly a content farm and someone just did a bad job. But this is a beaver. This is a beaver.

LIZ: This looks like a meme.

JULIAN: They do have it correct that none of these are good pets.

PAZ: No.

LIZ: True. God, look at that guy go. I can't stop looking at it. It's just running. Where's he going?

JULIAN: He has important business.

LIZ: Gotta go attack a baby. Heard that baby's an atheist.

PAZ: That's why the badger went for it.

JULIAN: The badger's here to enforce, uh. Oh, I'm sorry, I can't get over the beaver.

PAZ: Okay, we gotta move on.

LIZ: It's a badger.

JULIAN: We gotta move on. We gotta move on.

LIZ: A European badger.

PAZ: Cloudkit got attacked by a beaver.

LIZ: Just turns around and like, waps you.

JULIAN: Oh. Alright, what else happened in these chapters?

PAZ: I guess the next thing we didn't talk about, um, I mean we talked a little about... I guess Fireheart and Cloudkit have another little bonding scene getting the moss.

JULIAN: Yeah, that was cute. And then Tigerclaw's up to some shit again.

PAZ: Of course. Yeah, Tigerclaw going to Twolegplace to do nefarious things. There was a point where his pawprints were described as massive, which was extremely funny to me.

JULIAN: I love the image of Tigerclaw's just enormous big ol beans.

PAZ: Huge beans.

LIZ: Big ol beans compared to cats, though. How big could they be?

PAZ: Well, have you ever seen a cat with real, real big paw to body ratio? That's what I'm imagining. Like he's a big cat but his paws are even bigger.

LIZ: Yeah, but he could still fit in like...

PAZ: What if Tigerclaw's like a polydactyl? Is that what they're called?

LIZ: Oh, absolutely.

JULIAN: [gasps] Yes.

PAZ: Multiple toes.

LIZ: He's got thumbs so that's why he can commit all his crimes.

PAZ: It all makes sense.

LIZ: All dexterity. How did Tigerclaw kill all those other cats? He's got a gun.

PAZ: Holy shit.

JULIAN: I mean, he has been hanging out with all these back alley cats that smell like trash.

LIZ: These city cats.

JULIAN: This is how guns enter the rural English countryside.

PAZ: I love that Fireheart just keeps collecting evidence that Tigerclaw's evil, and he just can't do anything about it because Bluestar is useless.

LIZ: I just can't believe that in these chapters, there's that part specifically where he says Bluestar will know what to do.

PAZ: [snorts]

JULIAN: Right, it's like last-- well, I mean, I feel like he still thinks it's his fault, that he like didn't frame it right last time. Which is very sad.

PAZ: Yeah, but like, he tried to tell her twice. And each time she's been like, no,

LIZ: But it's definitely like being set up for that, right? Because this is very like his own perspective and it's gonna be a dramatic irony turn later.

JULIAN: Mm.

LIZ: Is that too hopeful?

PAZ: We'll see.

LIZ: [darkly] Mm.

PAZ: He does literally run into Tigerclaw.

JULIAN: He does. It's very funny.

LIZ: Right, he's like--

JULIAN: Bounces right off him anime-style.

LIZ: No, he's tailing him, right, and then he's like, oh fuck, but there's this mouse. Ooh, but I gotta--

PAZ: It's so funny. His little cat attention span.

LIZ: It's very video game, too. It's like, okay, main quest. Wait, fuck. Ooh. Mm. Give me a second.

PAZ: I'll be real quick. I just gotta. Yeah, there's a nasty cat smell. Princess shows back up. She's like, you're so thin.

JULIAN: She's like, hey, you're feeding my son, right?

LIZ: Princess having some second thoughts. It's like, maybe I should have gotten my fucking kid vaccinated before he went.

JULIAN: Maybe I should have let him reach like an adult size. Then his growth wouldn't be stunted.

PAZ: She's like, are you getting enough to eat, and Fireheart's just like, no. Doesn't even try to lie.

JULIAN: Imagine being Princess, though. It's like, your shithead brother comes back, is clearly malnourished, and you're like, oh my god, like, I have food at home. Come get some food. And he's like, I can't. The clan. It's like, buddy.

PAZ: He's just in a cult.

JULIAN: He's in a cult. She's trying her best to help him. Well, not really. She's not.

LIZ: Well, she--

PAZ: No, she gave her son to the cult.

JULIAN: She gave him her son.

LIZ: He could have just rolled in some garlic or whatever.

PAZ: Right? Didn't he roll in fox dung before? That was fine.

LIZ: Eat the Temptations.

JULIAN: Eat the Temptations. And then eat some like, I don't know, chives or something so no one can smell the Temptations, the sweet, sweet smell of Temptations on your breath.

LIZ: Just eat some catnip, damn.

PAZ: A single Temptation would kill a Warrior cat dead. Be overwhelming.

JULIAN: God, they really are just like medieval peasants out there in the woods, eating their bowls of gruel. If they got a single bite of tender ocean fish dinner, they would just keel over.

LIZ: Don't they make like beggin strips or whatever for cats now?

JULIAN: Mm-hmm.

PAZ: Probably.

LIZ: You think like the Warriors have a little, little pot of catgrass? I don't think so.

PAZ: No.

LIZ: Everything out there's poisonous.

JULIAN: Well, at the fancy boutique pet bakery in my neighborhood, because of course there is one of those, they do have whole dried fish treats.

LIZ: Wow.

JULIAN: That you can give your cat, if you I guess don't care about having to sweep up after them.

LIZ: Wow.

JULIAN: We have never given one of those to Chickpea because I think she would-- it would be too much for her.

PAZ: No offense to Chickpea, but she doesn't seem to have very discerning taste.

JULIAN: No, no, she really wants Cheez-its.

LIZ: Aw.

JULIAN: She wants Cheez-its so bad.

PAZ: I can relate. I could go for some Cheez-its.

LIZ: She does look like someone who loves to crunch.

JULIAN: Today she knocked-- she loves to crunch. She loves to crunch, and I love to hear her crunch, so it's a win-win. Today she climbed on top of the fridge, again, to try to get the food that is no longer there because we moved it. And she knocked over like the 12 pack of Coke that was up there.

PAZ: Oh my gosh.

LIZ: Oh my god. Does she even weigh 12 packs of coke?

JULIAN: No. Well, there were probably like five or six in there. Um, but she tried to jump on it and then obviously her momentum-- she didn't have great purchase on top of the fridge, so it fell off. I just heard a clatter and came out, and she was looking very, um, you know cats do when it's like, oh I didn't do that. I'm the most distinguished.

PAZ: Kip goes up on the top of our fridge and knocks things over on purpose. He'll like look at me, and knock it off the top of the fridge.

JULIAN: Real Cloudkit. Real Cloudkit energies on that one.

LIZ: Kip's an atheist.

PAZ: Absolutely. Wow. Chapter 10.

JULIAN: Chapter 10.

LIZ: Wait, wait.

PAZ: Oh, yeah?

LIZ: No, just, what if we got one of those like, you know those YouTubes that are always like me making a gourmet cat-friendly meal for my cats?

PAZ: Yeah?

LIZ: We just gotta do that. And I don't know. I think that that has more pull than Temptations, maybe. It's like I made you cat sushi, or I made you like a cat cake.

PAZ: Are you saying that's what'll get Fireheart inside?

LIZ: I think so.

JULIAN: He's got discerning tastes is what you're saying.

LIZ: Mm-hmm.

JULIAN: He needs that raw meat.

PAZ: He does.

JULIAN: What even happened in chapter 10? I just have a note, Whitestorm is a good guy.

PAZ: That's true. Was he even mentioned?

JULIAN: Which is accurate.

PAZ: Was that him taking out the apprentices or something?

LIZ: I think so, yeah.

JULIAN: I think that's where I've, yeah.

PAZ: I've seen a lot of, I think Whitestorm X Tigerclaw stuff on YouTube. I think that's right.

LIZ: That is very funny.

PAZ: I love Tigerclaw's many exes. First Redtail. Now Whitestorm.

JULIAN: Well, I guess the reason we don't remember anything from chapter 10 is it's literally eight pages long.

PAZ: Yeah, it's real short. Fireheart tells Bluestar that there's nasty cats over at Twolegplace, but can't tell her that Tigerclaw is there, because he's like she just won't believe me.

JULIAN: Then they go on a little patrol and they go to RiverClan, and the river's flooded. Uh-oh.

PAZ: It sure is flooded.

JULIAN: I guess that's the downside to having your camp in the middle of the river.

PAZ: Yeah, I wonder if their camp's doing okay.

JULIAN: Yeah. Uh-oh.

LIZ: Oh boy.

PAZ: Uh-oh. I didn't even think about that.

LIZ: Whuh-oh.

JULIAN: I'm sure it's fine that Graystripe is on this patrol.

PAZ: Listen, one time he decides to do work is when he's like maybe I'll see my gf on the way.

JULIAN: God.

PAZ: Please, what are you gonna fucking do if you do see her?

LIZ: He's so annoying.

JULIAN: Well, he's gonna have a double date with Sandstorm and Fireheart and him and his gf and also--

PAZ: Running whoever. What's that guy's name? Runningwind.

JULIAN: Also Runningwind is there.

PAZ: Wow. Fifth wheel Runningwind.

LIZ: Well, maybe Runningwind will find his own starcrossed like cat romance. Triple date. Yes.

JULIAN: There you go.

PAZ: Perfect.

JULIAN: Runningwind slash, who's in... Stonefur.

PAZ: Oh.

LIZ: What do we call that?

PAZ: Runningstone. I'm Googling Runningwind. Don't Google Runningwind, Liz.

LIZ: I'm never going to get into that fucking spoiler channel. What's going on in there? I don't know.

PAZ: Runningwind stories Wattpad. "This is my spin on Warriors: The Prophecies Begin, just with a reader insert. I do not own Warriors. I only own the plot points I use." Oh, here we go. Redtail x Runningwind. Ooh.

LIZ: What?

PAZ: Tell me more.

JULIAN: Ohh.

PAZ: I'm intrigued.

JULIAN: I think this is literally the first time we've seen Runningwind say anything onscreen.

PAZ: Okay, this is someone posting on the forums, "I am utterly baffled by this ship."

LIZ: Well, them saying that makes me want to be like--

PAZ: Oh, fuck this person. They say, "I understand the trans Redtail thing, but I don't really like it. But I don't really care too much." Still, die.

JULIAN: Well, I don't care about you. I don't care about your opinion.

LIZ: Well, yeah.

PAZ: Your opinion is horrible.

JULIAN: And I think Redtail is trans. This is the first I've heard of this headcanon and I would now die for it.

LIZ: Redtail is trans and gay.

PAZ: We've heard of trans Redtail before. Yeah.

JULIAN: Have we?

PAZ: Apparently Redtail-- yeah, that was that one Youtuber's name.

JULIAN: Oh my god, right. It's the YouTuber. I'm sorry.

PAZ: Apparently Redtail was a male calico so yeah, trans Redtail.

JULIAN: Oh!

LIZ: Hell yeah.

PAZ: Just like Hadesclipse.

JULIAN: Just like Hadesclipse.

PAZ: Redtail likes Hadesclipse. This is my self insert.

LIZ: You're gonna have to fight Runningwind.

JULIAN: I guess Runningwind has been here before on screen. I just forgot about him. He helped train Brackenpaw back in Fire and Ice when Graystripe was once again not doing his job.

LIZ: He's just like a nice fellow.

JULIAN: Yeah, he's just a guy.

PAZ: I do not respect the person who made this forum thread at all.

LIZ: Yeah, get outta here, OP.

JULIAN: Uh-oh.

PAZ: Yeah?

JULIAN: I've read some stories or some spoilers for, uh.

PAZ: Yeah?

JULIAN: For later.

PAZ: Well, how bad--

LIZ: Wait, hold on a second. Wait. How come Julian gets to do it and not me?

PAZ: Because Julian's read the books!

JULIAN: Cause this is all shit that I should already know, I just don't remember.

LIZ: Mm. Hmm.

PAZ: Listen, once we finish the Power of Three, you can go wild, because that's up to where we got to. I don't know what we were doing.

LIZ: Chapter 10?

JULIAN: Chapter 10. The eight-page chapter 10. RiverClan is flooded.

PAZ: RIP RiverClan.

LIZ: Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

PAZ: I was just saying RIP RiverClan.

LIZ: I do want to talk about the one thing where Tigerclaw's telling Fireheart to patrol and then Fireheart is like, oh, he's too smart to be hostile to me in public. But he is, though.

PAZ: Right? He's already been hostile to you many times.

LIZ: He calls you a little bitch like every single day in front of people.

PAZ: For real.

JULIAN: It's like, you don't really need to set Fire-- or set Tigerclaw up as like conniving because he's already been conniving. We've seen him be conniving. Part of his connivingness is that he calls you a little bitch every day, and you can't do anything about it because he's the deputy.

PAZ: It's not like-- his whole posse calls Fireheart a little bitch. Fireheart got called a kittypet like two chapters ago.

LIZ: Right? The problem is that people don't care.

JULIAN: Fucking Longtail and Dustpelt.

PAZ: Yeah, and Darkstripe.

LIZ: One of those is like someone's brother, right?

JULIAN: Dustpelt is Sandstorm's brother.

PAZ: No, no, no, no, no.

LIZ: No, wait.

PAZ: They were just apprentices. He's, um, I think he's technically Ravenpaw's brother.

LIZ: Oh, right right right.

JULIAN: Is he?

PAZ: Or something like that.

LIZ: Someone is Ravenpaw's brother.

JULIAN: Oh, I just assumed they were siblings because they were...

PAZ: But it's like, not really--

JULIAN: Oh, you're right. He is Ravenpaw's brother.

LIZ: Wild.

JULIAN: And he's Longtail's half brother.

PAZ: Bitch.

JULIAN: Oh, he's such a little bitch because Darkstripe was his mentor.

LIZ: Duh.

PAZ: Oh. Sorry, I just saw a spoiler for the.... Oh man.

LIZ: These cats. I think that's it though for the chapters, right?

JULIAN: Yeah.

PAZ: Yeah. Sorry. Sorry, Dustpelt had a son.

LIZ: What?

PAZ: Called Spiderleg.

JULIAN: [snorting]

LIZ: You can't do that. What about a cat is spidery?

JULIAN: Peyton's gonna be so angry.

LIZ: Please.

PAZ: That's incredible. I'm clicking Spiderleg's wiki page.

LIZ: Wait, I think Dustpelt should have eight children, no, nine children, and they should all be like Spiderleg 1, Spiderleg 2, Spiderleg 3, until you get to 8. And then you should have one just be like Spiderhead.

JULIAN: Oh holy shit.

LIZ: And then they can stand on top of each other like a mech.

JULIAN: Dustpelt is also Birchfall's father.

PAZ: Oh.

JULIAN: Birchfall of the bad name.

PAZ: I bet Peyton hates Spiderleg too.

JULIAN: Yeah, I guess, uh. Well, whoever the leader is the person who gave the leg name because Spiderkit is... I mean, it's a weird name. But it's a fine one.

LIZ: Oh God.

JULIAN: Oh, I hate that the pixel art here is this cat is looking directly at me. Usually the pixel art, the cat is kind of like, you know, three quarter view, like looking off into the distance. Spiderleg? Looking into my eyes.

PAZ: Sorry, what? Here's a quote caption. "Spiderleg annoyed with Dovepaw when she talks about brown animals." What?

JULIAN: What?

LIZ: Hey, Spiderleg, you, hey, what?

PAZ: What? Brown animals.

JULIAN: [yells]

LIZ: What is that noise you just made?

JULIAN: [hysterical laughter]

PAZ: Hold on. Just gonna screenshot this.

JULIAN: [creaks]

PAZ: If my phone will let me.

JULIAN: Oh God.

PAZ: It all comes full circle.

JULIAN: It really does.

LIZ: [laughing] Oh my god.

PAZ: I clicked "brown animals," and it took me to the beaver page.

LIZ: What does it mean?

PAZ: "Friendly? No."

LIZ: What does it mean?

JULIAN: Beavers aren't friendly?

PAZ: No.

JULIAN: "Relation to clan cats. If provoked they're able to kill a cat with their sharp front teeth."

PAZ: Holy shit.

LIZ: Is that true?

JULIAN: That has never happened.

PAZ: I do not think so.

LIZ: Wait. [typing] Can beavers kill cats. [gasps]

JULIAN: Beaver versus cat.

LIZ: "Beaver attacks can be fatal to domestic animals."

JULIAN: [gasps]

PAZ: Holy shit.

LIZ: There's a whole Wikipedia page for beaver attack.

PAZ: I never would have guessed.

LIZ: Oh, you gotta see this beaver. You gotta see the beaver they use. Look at him, looking at you.

JULIAN: Oh.

PAZ: Oh no.

LIZ: What the fuck?

PAZ: He's so round. I'm so scared.

LIZ: Got his little paws together like [evil laugh] I will.

JULIAN: A beaver has killed a man.

LIZ: What?

JULIAN: Yeah.

PAZ: "Relation to clan cats." Oh, go ahead.

JULIAN: Um, I mean, okay, so this is a 60 year old guy who grabbed the beaver, to take a photo with it.

LIZ: Oh my god.

JULIAN: And the beaver bit open his femoral artery.

PAZ: Oh, okay, he shouldn't have done that.

LIZ: Yikes.

JULIAN: So it was like, you shouldn't have done it. Also, it was like bad luck. It just happened to get the femoral.

PAZ: Here's what the Warriors wiki has to say. "Relation to clan cats. Beavers are known to be both inquisitive with cats, but also aggressive if provoked."

JULIAN: Oh my god?

LIZ: Well, how many beavers are they gonna see in England?

JULIAN: There are beavers in England.

PAZ: Yeah, there are beavers.

LIZ: Have we covered this? This feels...

PAZ: I feel like we have, yes.

JULIAN: I think we have. There's beavers in the Narnia book.

LIZ: Aren't they like-- isn't it that like beavers have been recently reintroduced or something?

JULIAN: Yes, we talked about this because they were hunted for their fur to almost extinction, and then they made a big comeback.

PAZ: To kill cats.

LIZ: Good for them?

JULIAN: Good for them. Aw, this is one sleeping and he's all curled up into his tail.

LIZ: I'm just looking at the list of non fatal attacks on humans by beavers.

PAZ: Get 'em.

LIZ: While you say this. Goddamn.

JULIAN: Oh, this image is too powerful for Discord.

PAZ: Understandable.

LIZ: Can you screenshot it?

JULIAN: Oh, I just posted the link, because it's 6000 by 4000 pixels.

LIZ: Oh my god.

PAZ: Aw. Have you guys seen baby beavers? They are an incredible shape.

LIZ: Oh yeah. Mm-hmm.

JULIAN: Oh, I don't think I have. Baby beavers. Listeners, I hope you enjoy our animal googling. Oh!

PAZ: They're just such a good shape. They're so fuzzy. They're so round.

JULIAN: Oh, they're so fluffy. Oh, I highly recommend everyone to Google baby beavers.

PAZ: Yes, please. There's some good videos on YouTube, I think.

JULIAN: Yep. They're so small. This is from I Can Has Cheezburger, a site I did not realize was still on the internet.

LIZ: I don't think it can die at this point. I think it's an establishment, right?

JULIAN: Here it is. Their Facebook page is actively posting things as of 47 minutes ago.

PAZ: On Facebook?

JULIAN: There's a listicle about 18 cats demonstrating their cat logic.

LIZ: [groans]

PAZ: Tigerclaw voice.

LIZ: Tigerclaw voice, debate me.

PAZ: I'll destroy them with facts and logic.

JULIAN: Wow.

LIZ: Also sorry, on my search for can beavers kill cats, like the fourth result is just the beaver Warriors wiki page.

PAZ: What do you call a baby beaver? Kits.

LIZ: Baby.

JULIAN: Aw.

PAZ: They're kits, too.

LIZ: [laughs] Can I-- oh my god. Can I give you some suggested searches from this?

JULIAN: Yeah.

LIZ: Okay. One. "Are beavers venomous?"

PAZ: No, that's a platypus.

JULIAN: I understand the confusion, though.

PAZ: Yeah, they're a little similar.

LIZ: Two. "How to survive a beaver attack."

PAZ: Run.

JULIAN: Don't get bitten in the femoral artery and you'll be good.

LIZ: Three. "Beaver bite force PSI."

JULIAN: Now what is the beaver bite force psi? I'm very curious.

LIZ: Let me check. 180 pounds.

PAZ: Holy shit.

JULIAN: That's a lot.

PAZ: Well, I mean they have to bite hard to take down trees, I guess.

LIZ: Goddamn.

JULIAN: Yeah, damn.

LIZ: Compared to a human's 88 pounds. Good Lord.

PAZ: We don't have shit.

JULIAN: That's pretty strong on humans, too.

PAZ: Yeah, I'm not biting that hard.

JULIAN: No wonder my teeth hurt all the time.

PAZ: I don't have anything else to say about these chapters.

JULIAN: Yeah, I think we've wrapped up.

PAZ: I forgot to decide on something to talk about.

JULIAN: I mean, we did talk about beavers for quite some time.

PAZ: We did.

[meow]

JULIAN: I wonder if-- okay, I'm gonna do a quick Google to see if... beaver roleplay.

LIZ: Oh my god.

PAZ: Oh my god. Beaver kids book.

JULIAN: Oh no, this is Narnia roleplay. That's not what I want. Beaver roleplay Proboards.

PAZ: Oh shit.

JULIAN: Beaver [sighs]. Yep, here we go. I found-- this is on the Disney Roleplay World.

PAZ: Disney?

LIZ: Oh?

JULIAN: Yeah.

LIZ: Beavers in Disney?

JULIAN: This is an Angry Beavers RP.

LIZ: What?

PAZ: Oh my god, that show. You don't know that show, Liz?

LIZ: No?

PAZ: I think it was a Nickelodeon cartoon. It was like the era of like, Catdog and such.

LIZ: Oh.

JULIAN: Yeah, it's a band of outcast beavers trying to take over the world, or take over the woods, sorry, not the world.

PAZ: Why not the world?

JULIAN: Holy shit, this is dark. Um, they are the young Zachs family. The head beaver, Jason, catches Treeflower. Kate, who was with her, isn't seen, but finds her mother dead after Jason kills her to send a message.

PAZ: What?

JULIAN: Is there a way to bring her back or stop Jason? Fuck!

PAZ: I hope so.

JULIAN: Oh, it's so much to read this very intensive, um, there are lions here?!

LIZ: What?

PAZ: I don't remember that.

JULIAN: This roleplay includes lions and bears. It's a lot to see this really intensive moment where this beaver is facing down lions. And she's screaming for her uncle, Daggett.

PAZ: Oh yeah, I remember. Yep, that was the name.

JULIAN: "'Mama, Daddy, Uncle Daggy-Waggy,' she screams."

LIZ: Oh my god.

JULIAN: Also a lot to see, um... is this Tyler Posey? Someone's shooting a gun at me in the gif.

PAZ: What?

JULIAN: In this signature about beavers.

PAZ: What year was this happening?

JULIAN: This was posted in 2014.

PAZ: That is much more recent than I would have thought.

JULIAN: Yeah, it didn't get off the ground too far. Only about 10 posts here.

PAZ: I wonder why.

JULIAN: Oh, no, I'm sorry, there's four pages of this. I'm just kidding.

LIZ: Oh my god.

JULIAN: Yeah, the final post is, "'Kate, it's time for lunch,' Norb called to his daughter." So I presume they--

PAZ: They survived.

JULIAN: They dealt with the lions.

LIZ: They went to lunch.

PAZ: Man, Warrior Cats needs to step up.

LIZ: This is riveting.

JULIAN: These beavers have sofas? I never watched the cartoon.

PAZ: Oh yeah, they live in like a-- I don't remember exactly.

JULIAN: Little house?

PAZ: Yeah.

JULIAN: Yeah, no, Kate's mom fuckin died. Rip Treeflower.

PAZ: Wow.

JULIAN: I am kind of surprised but there hasn't been like a big sprawling story about a society of beavers.

PAZ: Yeah, they also are like communal animals. Are beavers not interesting enough? I think they're cool.

JULIAN: Wait, hold up. What was the Redwall book? Oh no, those were otters.

LIZ: An otter is just a beaver that hasn't been flattened at the back.

JULIAN: Because I was thinking of Taggerung, which in hindsight was I think a little racist. But that was about otters and not beavers.

LIZ: You know that--

JULIAN: Are beavers--

LIZ: Oh, go ahead.

JULIAN: Are they evil in Redwall?

PAZ: Are they in Redwall?

LIZ: Beavers?

JULIAN: Oh, there are no beavers.

LIZ: Well, when was Redwall written?

JULIAN: Redwall wiki. "According to Brian Jacques, beavers do not appear in subsequent Redwall novels to reflect the fact that there are no longer any native beavers in Great Britain."

LIZ: Well. Wait.

JULIAN: "The solitary beaver is the only beaver in the Redwall series and was very rarely mentioned."

PAZ: Holy shit. Who's the solitary beaver?

JULIAN: He stopped Cluny from climbing up the wall in the first battle of the Late Rose Summer Wars.

PAZ: I want to know more about this guy.

JULIAN: And he uses a crossbow. Damn.

PAZ: Wow, apparently beavers have like, mate for life.

JULIAN: Aw.

LIZ: Aw.

PAZ: Wikipedia doesn't have a fictional beavers page.

JULIAN: Why? They have a fictional badgers page.

PAZ: Maybe there just aren't many fictional beavers.

JULIAN: Oh my God. I know this is not a Redwall padcast.

LIZ: Padcast?

JULIAN: Padcast. But I have found a tidbit of Redwall lore that is blowing the series wide open. Bees can communicate in Redwall.

LIZ: What?

PAZ: What?

JULIAN: "Indicated by a statement at the end of the books where the guerrilla shrews learn to speak the bee language so they can trade and argue. This is not noted in other books."

PAZ: Holy shit.

JULIAN: That means that if bees can communicate, half of the animals eat insects. Are they eating sentient insects?

PAZ: Ahh.

LIZ: Horrible. I hate that. What if you're like, God, I don't know, like a bird or mouse or whatever, and you just like, eat a cricket, and it's just like, [tinily] nooo.

JULIAN: [very small] I have a family.

LIZ: Gruesome.

PAZ: This is a problem when you make all the animals in sentient societies.

JULIAN: Well, I feel like Redwall tried to handle it by making all the carnivores evil.

PAZ: I've never read Redwall.

JULIAN: Yeah, they make most of the carnivores, like-- which is its own problem because then it's like these species are inherently evil.

PAZ: They just did Zootopia. I mean, I guess Zootopia did Redwall, is what I should say.

LIZ: With cops? Does Redwall have cops?

JULIAN: Um...

PAZ: They have like soldiers.

JULIAN: It's sort of like a medieval situation. So they have like soldiers, and like, there might be like a sheriff or something. There's not like the police.

PAZ: There's only 21 pages in the fictional beavers category.

LIZ: That's so sad.

JULIAN: That's so sad. That feels--

PAZ: This is an undertapped market.

LIZ: They have architecture. They feel rife for like anthropomorph-- word I can't say. You know, when they become little guys with little houses?

JULIAN: Hey, children's book editors, hot new idea, fictional story about beavers, species of beavers. They're-- not species, family of beavers. Society of beavers. That's the word I was looking for.

PAZ: That should be the next Erin Hunter endeavor.

JULIAN: Right? I guess maybe the concern is, while they do have a society and they do have little hands and they do build things, they don't attack each other and kill each other?

PAZ: That's true. No, but they're very territorial. Maybe they do.

LIZ: They can attack and kill us. That's gotta be something.

JULIAN: That's true.

PAZ: They probably have fights.

LIZ: Maybe it's like the next, you know, great civilization is one of beavers and they've got to fight the humans or something.

JULIAN: There you go.

LIZ: Terrible remnants of the last one.

PAZ: Beavers inherit the earth.

JULIAN: There was a beaver dam in the creek at home, and they were-- they did a lot. They really dammed up that creek.

PAZ: Yeah, they work hard. Okay, if Erin Hunter was to make a beaver series, what would it be called? So the bears one is called Seekers. I think the canceled dog one was like...

JULIAN: No, that's the Africa one.

LIZ: Designers. Planners.

JULIAN: Architects. Builders.

LIZ: Constructors. Oh, Creators.

JULIAN: Oooh.

PAZ: Ooh.

LIZ: There's also Devisors, which sounds a little, you know.

PAZ: Oh, that sounds like they'll be like little wizards.

JULIAN: Yeah, I like Devisors.

PAZ: Devisors is real good.

JULIAN: Survivors is the dog series.

PAZ: Oh, Devisors is a little close to Survivors. But I think it's still very good.

LIZ: Artisan.

PAZ: I want little wizard beavers.

JULIAN: Right? They're so ripe to be little magic guys. Little magicians. They got their little hands.

LIZ: I feel like every other creature that's vaguely in the shape of a beaver, which is like kind of a brown egg, has gotten that treatment already. Like, you know, badgers, which they're not really brown, but they're eh. Porcupine. I feel like I've definitely seen more porcupine than beaver.

PAZ: Yeah. Why are beavers so underutilized?

LIZ: Otters. Capybaras.

JULIAN: I don't think we've done capybaras.

PAZ: Friends at the Table has done capybaras now.

LIZ: I think someone's done capybaras.

JULIAN: I mean, maybe there's a children's book.

LIZ: Moles. Voles.

JULIAN: That's just Redwall.

PAZ: Yeah, those little guys are Redwall.

LIZ: A raccoon isn't brown but it does have little hands and is about the same shape, and they've definitely done those.

PAZ: There's like Sly Cooper, yeah.

JULIAN: Yeah. Ranger Rick.

PAZ: Justice for beavers.

LIZ: Let the beaver have its moment. It's basically like a water clan, right?

PAZ: Yeah.

LIZ: Okay, there should just be like a direct lifting of all the Warriors clans into just like beaver clan, badger clan. That's like--

PAZ: This is just Redwall. We're just reinventing Redwall with beavers.

LIZ: No, there's more than one beaver, because they've returned to England.

PAZ: You're writing Redwall fanfiction.

LIZ: I can make this an Arthurian beaver.

PAZ: Yeah, the beaver is Merlin.

JULIAN: Guinebeaver.

LIZ: Who's gonna play young hot BBC beaver Merlin?

JULIAN: Do you mean Beaverlin?

LIZ: Yes.

PAZ: You know, that might do it for us. I think we're-- [laughs].

LIZ: When we hit that 420 goal.

PAZ: Thanks everyone for listening to our podcast. You can find the show at Stairway to Star-- no, it's just, you can find the show @staircast on twitter.com. You can now support the show on Patreon at patreon.com/staircast. You can email questions or anecdotes or yell at us about talking about beavers too much, [email protected]. Um, next week we'll be reading chapters 11 through 14 of Forest of Secrets. I guess that's about it. So until next time, may StarClan light your path. Bye.

LIZ: Bye.

JULIAN: Bye.

[outro music]

LIZ: My God.

JULIAN: Oh.

LIZ: Hey, did you know beavertails are a kind of donut?

JULIAN: Oh, like a food?

LIZ: Yeah.

JULIAN: I was like, I thought you were talking about like a mathematical donut for some reason.

PAZ: Wow.

LIZ: That's me. I love to talk about math.

JULIAN: Like a torus. Anyway.

#ep 19 #forest of secrets ep #transcript #beaver tales

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frogmanwritings · 3 years

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Loyal and Loving | A Thrushpelt and Bluestar one-shot

I tried to stick to canon with this, with Bluestar not truly loving Thrushpelt, but I may have strayed some lol. Let me know what you think, kinda went outside my comfort zone to make a one-shot.

Alternative reading links: Fanfiction AO3

Bluestar always wanted to be leader. To be the face of her clan, to lead through thick and thin. And going through the thick, it was glorious. It was painful at times, to remember what she had given up to do it, but being able to stand up on the Highrock, to look down at her allies, her warriors, her friends... it was comfortable, everything she had ever dreamed of. But going through the thin right now? It was agonizing. This leafbare was the most brutal one that she had ever experienced, with prey being extremely scarce and sickness ravaging the camp. And tales with the elders only confirmed, this one was the worst they had ever seen as well.

The conditions for kits was unbearable, and Robinwing's most recent litter had already lost two kits within a moon of their birth, while a third, named Ravenkit, was fighting greencough. Elders were starving, with Windflight's body unable to hold up with the lessened food, and passed on just a few nights ago. Adderfang, stubborn as a badger, refused to rest in brutal conditions, and eventually died of illness as well. Even Rosetail, her friend for most of her life, lost her entire litter to illness, and was ravaged so badly by greencough that she had to retire to the elder's den, her lungs too far damaged to keep up with a warrior's life anymore.

As much as she tried to remain strong, it was appearing near impossible with death and suffering was clawing its way through her Clan, intent on claiming every life within it. And sitting in her den, Bluestar tried to calm her breathing. They would get through these moons, to get to newleaf, where the snow melted, illness passed, and prey became plentiful again, but it was at a snail's pace, and how many more cats would they have to lose to get there?

"Bluestar?"

The voice of Spottedleaf made the leader blink, looking upward towards the beautiful dappled medicine cat. Usually, in any other condition, the presence of the tortoiseshell was comforting, her mood and intelligence always lightening the mood. But in times like these, it just made Bluestar's stomach tighten, with news of another cat dying or falling ill coming her way. And with the look of sorrow in her eyes, she suspected no different. But even so, she kept her face as straight as she could, her fur only bristling just a bit.

"It's.. Thrushpelt." That sweet voice meowed, and Bluestar let a shiver run through her fur. Thrushpelt was a... special cat. Not because he was extraordinary at anything, he was just generally.. good at everything, but he was a welcoming spirit to the Clan, his kindness never leaving him and his warm green eyes promising comfort. But also, he was her mate. Or at least, that's what they had the Clan believe.

Bluestar foolishly engaged with Riverclan's Oakheart when she was younger. Her heart would always belong with him, but she ended up pregnant with his kits, and in order to cover for herself, she needed a tom within the Clan to be her mate. And Thrushpelt, he was infatuated with her, and agreed without any further question. Which made it all the worse that she had to then give away her kits to Oakheart later, when the Clan needed a new deputy, and Thistleclaw would bring Thunderclan to ruins under his reign.

"Is he sick too?" Bluestar carefully asked, knowing that another sick warrior was the last thing they needed now, already being short on paws. And yet the sorrow-filled eyes of Spottedleaf only turned darker. "He's dying."

"What?" That made the leader jolt up to her paws, her body suddenly rigid after having been slumped over before. "H-How? He just went out on patrol, was there-" "There was no attack. Redtail and Lionheart had to drag him back to camp, he collapsed after a heavy coughing fit. I'm not sure if it's greencough, but.."

Bluestar blinked, her pelt suddenly feeling hot, the tips of her ears and tail burning, yet this warmth during leafbare was something she did not desire. She'd rather be cold and shivering than.. this. "He wants to see you, Bluestar. I've given him some medicine and some poppy seeds to ease his suffering, but.. it won't be much longer." Spottedleaf went on, and her tone went low as she explained, ears flattening just a bit.

There was almost no time for the leader to process all of this. Just a few seconds of thought, of realization, before she nodded to her medicine cat. "You did the right thing, Spottedleaf." Bluestar mewed, hoping her tone didn't sound too shrivel and was comforting enough as she began to pad past, out to the snow-filled camp. Apprentices were making fortifications to the camp, warriors were constantly on the move, measly morsels of prey in their mouths before they went right back out, elders and queens camped away in their dens. When the leader was spotted exiting her den, she could see a few cats dip their heads away, while others looked to her for guidance, for words of encouragement.

But there was nothing she could tell them now. Another cat was dying to this forsaken season, and she had to be there for his last moments. Leaping down from her den, she quickly padded over to Spottedleaf's den. "Bluestar, I-" Darkstripe began to speak up to her, but a hiss from the trailing medicine cat quieted him. The young warrior's words would have to wait, their leader was needed for a cat's final moments. And this one had to be the most bitter for her yet.

"Thrushpelt?" Bluestar called out gently, dipping her head into the den, the smell of herbs instantly hitting her in the face, but her tired eyes eventually caught the sight of the pale brown fur of the warrior, huddled up in a den of moss. "Bluestar..?" She could hear him call out in return, but it was practically a croak, and she quietly hissed. That was how Windflight sounded before he passed. How did this happen so quickly...

"I'm here, Thrushpelt, I'm here.." She meowed, walking forward and immersing herself fully into the den, seeing those light green eyes, like the grass of newleaf, open up and meet her gaze. Maybe in another life, she could find herself tantalized by that gaze, to fall in love with it. He was certainly a handsome tom, charming in his own way, and if he hadn't been so infatuated with her, he would've surely found himself a mate. But instead, he acted as hers, to keep her secret safe. He was loyal to a fault, and Bluestar could never thank him enough for it.

And now, at his side, Bluestar could see the extent of his illness. Green mucus was splattered on the ground next to the moss, his nose running and chin damp with drool. The brightness in his gaze had dimmed, and even while under the influence of those poppy seeds, his flank was still raising quickly, as though desperately sucking in air for damaged lungs. He was very sick, and the leader could hardly bare it. "Bluestar.. I'm sorry."

Thrushpelt apologized, and this time, the leader made sure her hiss was heard. "Don't apologize." She practically ordered him, and yet he continued to meow in a shriveled tone. "I knew I was sick... but I couldn't just stop. I couldn't bear to hear Robinwing's kits whine. The elders.. begging for prey. Apprentices working up frostbite. So.. I hid it."

"You acted valiantly, Thrushpelt, it's ok." Bluestar responded, laying her body down close to his, one of her paws pressing down over his. Her ears could pick up Spottedleaf gently backing out of the den, as though to give the two their final moments together. "Starclan will honor you. I promise."

A harsh cough then escaped from Thrushpelt's mouth, more green spit flying out, though thankfully the warrior had enough mind to turn his head away. As much as Bluestar wanted to be there for her warrior, she couldn't afford to get sick when she needed to be the beacon for the Clan. Though it still made her ears flatten to hear, her heart aching for the tom.

"I'm.. I'm not scared, Bluestar. I'm.. happy." He mewed softly, turning back to her once he wiped his muzzle with the moss of his bedding. "I get to see our kits again..." His eyes lit up just briefly at that, meeting Bluestar's gaze, and her heart sank. Guilt had always raked her heart over giving away her kits, not just because she was losing them, but because Thrushpelt was too.

He knew that they weren't his, and that he was merely to keep her secret affair with Oakheart safe. And yet he loved them, with all of his heart. She thought back to how her father treated her and Snowkit, when they were kits, and he almost never took enough time out of the day to truly see them. Bluestar loved her father and understood that he put his duties first, like she did in a way, but it was something heartwarming to see how good a father could be, with Thrushpelt. One could've never guessed that her kits wasn't his, with how much he loved them.

Anytime she needed a break, be it to stretch her legs and walk or just needing to relax after having three kits prod their growing claws against her belly, he was there. If they wanted to topple a fox, he played the biggest and baddest one. If Stonekit was the valiant leader, he was the most loyal warrior, ready to take any command.

And when she gave them away... when she had to tell Thrushpelt the lie, that a predator had scooped them away, it almost made her break, and tell him the truth instead, though she knew she couldn't. He looked, and looked, and looked. No other cat, not even Bluestar herself, looked as badly as he did. She could still remember the look of absolute sorrow in his eyes as he began to realize that they'd never find them. Just thinking of it made her gulp down any sound of sorrow.

And that was why she couldn't tell him now. As much as she wanted to, Bluestar knew that him passing would be far easier if he thought their kits were waiting for him, and she could only hope that he wouldn't be angry once he realized, even if he had all the right. At the very least, he'd have Mosskit, and she could only hope that that would satisfy him when he went. "Take good care of them... for us." She meowed, dipping her head close to his flank.

Did she love him? Well, she loved all of her clanmates, happily ready to sacrifice herself for any of them. But there was no denying that Thrushpelt.. he was special. Perhaps she wasn't in love with him, perhaps he wasn't truly the one for her, but she also couldn't deny that there was some semblance there. Acting as mates together, there had to be some level of acting in order to keep appearances. They'd join patrols together, eat prey together, share tongues, and he'd never ask for anything more. Perhaps in another life..

"I'll tell them.. all the tales of their mother." Thrushpelt croaked, ending his sentence with a sigh, as though it was difficult for him to let out. His time was coming closer, and Bluestar pushed her nose against his flank. To comfort him, to feel his breaths... to be close to him as Starclan began to take him.

"Oh. I can feel it.." He mewed, his body slowly beginning to tingle and shake, his mouth gaping and eyes widening. Starclan was coming to take him now, and Bluestar could only murmur sadly. As to bring him anymore comfort, to make his journey any easier, it was the least that she could do for him, for any of her cats who were dying in front of her.

"I'll miss you, Thrushpelt." She uttered. Just outside of him being the former father to her kits, he was a great warrior. His jaws always swelling with prey, his claws always meeting their mark, a kind soul that looked out for others and a stern face when there needed to be one. Thunderclan would certainly miss his presence, and getting through leafbare would be even more difficult without him, though her mind didn't linger on that at the moment. Right now, in Spottedleaf's den, it was just the two of them, in his final moments, with everything else outside not existing. Just for these minutes.

"Bl-Bluestar.." His voice had lowered even quieter, but Bluestar could just hear it, turning her head to see his gaze on her, green and blue eyes mingling together. "Get the clan.. through this.. I know you will.." He rasped, the emotion in those eyes unmistakable, even with his body weakening. "I'll.. always love you." He whispered in a hush, that adoration gleaming in his eyes, and she heard it loud and clear. Her heart tightened, and the leader stepped forward to push her muzzle against his forehead, her paw pressing down over his and a comforting rumble in her throat building next to his ears. "Rest.." She could only murmur, as to speak any louder would allow the crack of grief to be audible in her tone.

Silence filled the den for the next seconds, almost as though it were abandoned, before finally, Bluestar could feel that last shutter run through Thrushpelt, a mild gasp acting as his final breath, and his body finally still. Thrushpelt had passed. And the leader took the time to drag her tongue over his head, to take in his scent one last time, to groom him one last time. She'd give him this moment, to show him that she truly cared as he ascended to Silverpelt.

And when Spottedleaf peaked in, she only nodded her head to Bluestar, in a quiet understanding that.. Bluestar just wanted these few more minutes before they took out to the center of camp. To Spottedleaf and the rest of the clan, their leader would grieve for him as a mate. But for her, and for him, it'd be because of a deep bond that never turned romantic, but it was someone that Bluestar could never, and would never want to replace. He was there when she needed him, went far and beyond what she asked of him, and never faltered in his loyalty.

That was just the type of cat Thrushpelt was. Loyal and loving.

#bluestar #bluestar's prophecy #warriors #warrior cats #thrushpelt #thrushblue #fanfiction #fanfic

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everybody-loves-purdy · 5 years

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Willowpelt is one of those background characters with a pretty interesting and rough life when you think about it.

First of all Darkstripes dad is listed as Tawnyspots but seeing as he died when Willowpelt was an apprentice I disregard that as canon, and seeing as Greystripe has no official father I sense forbidden romance. Seeing as her third litter was fathered by Whitestorm I’m willing to say that the relationship stopped for whatever reason, and given that this is warrior cats it was probably ended either on bad terms or due to the guy dying.

Potential forbidden relationship speculation aside, she had both of her littermates (Redtail and Spottedleaf) die in a very short amount of time, and both of them were murdered.

Then it turns out that Greystripe had a forbidden relationship with a RiverClan cat and now Willowpelt has grandchildren but their mother is dead. If Willowpelt did indeed have a forbidden relationship to have Greystripe and potentially Darkstipe, this probably created a lot of turmoil for her, probably wanting to help her son and explain she knew how he felt, but to do that she would have to address her own past codebreaking. Anyway she has grandchildren now but shortly after not only do they leave the Clan, but her son also leaves in order to take care of his children. He comes back several moons later after being banished from RiverClan but Featherkit and Stormkit still remain in RiverClan.

Then some time later her daughter, Sorrelkit was poisoned, not just by anyone but her own son (and firstborn kit) Darkstripe, who then got banished for his actions and then went to join Tigerstar, the guy who had been responsible for many ThunderClan deaths, including Redtail’s. (Tigerstar is also Willowpelt’s nephew).

Then a short while after this happened she found out that her grandchildren were almost murdered by Tigerstar, only to have Stonefur sacrifice himself to save their lives, with Darkstripe being one of his attackers, and now her grandchildren are taking refuge in ThunderClan. So even though it’s through tragedy, she finally has a chance to get to know her grandkids.

Shortly after Darkstripe was killed by Greystripe, Willowpelt’s murderous son is now dead by another of her son’s paws. If that wasn’t already enough to process, her mate at the time, Whitestorm, died in the same battle. Her son then became deputy in his place. Her grandchildren left to go back to RiverClan shortly after.

Then when it finally seems she might have some stability in her life, her son Sootpaw gets attacked by a badger and she dies to save him, then to have him die a relatively short time later from another badger attack.

I really didn’t mean to write this much about Willowpelt I’m so sorry and lots of these things only came to me as I was typing this. I honestly would like to see a novella from her perspective now.

#the authors often make bg characters very interesting #willowpelt #greystripe #graystripe #sorreltail #sootfur #rainwhisker #darkstripe #tigerstar #tigerclawstar #redtail #spottedleaf #whitestorm #warrior cats #stormfur #feathertail #stonefur #tawnyspots #long post

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stargleam-star · 4 years

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Warriors Rewrite Pt 0: Allegiances

So! Some of you may know Ive started rereading the first arc of warriors. As a result, I've been inspired to come up with my own version of a rewrite. I'm gonna make about 7+ posts of notes about things I'd change throughout the entirety of The Prophecies Begin.

To start off, let's talk about our cast

Leader: Bluestar (Apprentice: Sandpaw)

Blue-gray she-cat with a darker face, tail, and legs, and blue eyes. Basically she's a blue Burmese

She teaches Sandpaw instead of Firepaw because then it'd make sense when Graypaw says Bluestar only trains the deputy's kits. Not to mention I think Bluestar would be good at taming Sandpaw's attitude

Like in canon she gave up her kits. The way it happened was a bit different though. To look more convincing, Bluefur had Oakheart scratch her shoulder to make it look like she'd gone to fight the fox for her kits. Bringing home one of her kits half frozen made her story more believable

Deputy: Redtail (Apprentice: Dustpaw)

Small, mostly black tortoishell tom with a plumy dark ginger tail and green eyes

He lives! Or at least longer than he's supposed to. Probably til up about the time Lionheart dies in canon

He's mates with Runningwind. Sandpaw is their adopted daughter (we need more adoption positivity, plus her having no relation to the clan makes for a cleaner bloodline)

Medicine cat: Spottedleaf

Beautiful spotted torbie she-cat with a white chest, underbelly, and paws and amber eyes

She's not having a love affair with Firepaw/Fireheart in this. Also she's going to live slightly longer cause even tho Im not a fan of hers I want to change that

Warriors:

Lionheart (Apprentice: Graypaw)

Large longhaired golden tabby tom with a broad head, broad shoulders and amber eyes

Instead of dying during the raid Shadowclan leads on Thunderclan camp, he dies when the clan goes to chase out Brokenstar

Tigerclaw

Broad shouldered dark brown tabby tom with a scar across his muzzle and amber eyes

Whitestorm

White tom with a plumy blue-gray tail and yellow eyes

Bluestar raised him alongside Mosskit. So he sees her as his mom figure. He even calls her mom. He still loves Snowfur and sees her as his mother, but Bluestar was there for more of his life so he sees her as a mother too

Following that point, he sees Mosscloud as his sister. He also kind of sees Tigerclaw as a brother but doesn't have as strong of a bond with him as he does with Mosscloud

Mosscloud (Apprentice: Ravenpaw)

White she-cat with lilac patches and blue eyes

It's Mosskit!! She survived

Let me explain how: Bluefur snuck her kits out to bring to Riverclan (as she did in canon). But when she noticed Mosskit was falling behind and growing weak she panicked. She realized her daughter wasn't strong enough to make the journey, not like her littermates. So Bluefur tucked them away under a warm tree root and fetched Oakheart. Oakheart took Mistykit and Stonekit with him, and Bluefur carried Mosskit back to camp. It made her fox kitnapping story more believeable

Mosscloud doesn't really remember what happened that night anyways. If asked she'll say she remembers being cold and out of camp in the snow, and then next thing she knew Bluefur had carried her home. She believes Bluestar's story and believes her littermates are dead

She's really close with her dad, Thrushpelt. During free time she can often be found sharing tongues or having a meal with him

When she is busy, however, she's putting her focus on Ravenpaw. Mosscloud is an incredibly patient cat and wants to draw Ravenpaw out of his shell. She knows he has the potential to be a great warrior

Darkstripe

Black smoke classic tabby tom with a broad face and amber eyes. Like mama Willowpelt he looks like a British Shorthair

Longtail (Apprentice: Firepaw)

Lithe cinnamon silver classic tabby tom with a long tail and blue eyes

He was named a warrior 2 moons before Rusty came to Thunderclan

He was assigned to train Firepaw since he was so keen on testing the tom as soon as he stepped paw in camp (I'll go more in dept on this later)

Runningwind

What does "swift tabby tom" mean @ The Erins???

Here he's a fawn classic tabby tom with yellow-green eyes

He found Sandpaw at the edge of the territory when she was about a halfmoon-moon old kit and immediately brought her home to Thunderclan. She smelled of Windclan and he guessed a queen in the clan had abandoned her

Mousefur

Chocolate ticked tabby she-cat with amber eyes

She's pretty popular among the clan

She's around Longtail's age. They'd been named warriors together

Apprentices:

Sandpaw

Lithe dilute ginger classic tabby she-cat with green eyes

She doesn't know she was adopted from outside of Thunderclan. Nobody wants to tell her and frankly nobody really cares. She has clan blood, that's what's important. Plus she's strong, both physically and in wills

She's the oldest apprentice at approximately 9 and a half-10 moons

Dustpaw

Chocolate smoke tabby tom with amber eyes

He's kinda lean, like his brother. By the way Ravenpaw is his brother

He is 9 moons old at the beginning of Into the Wild

Ravenpaw

Small lithe black tom with a white chest locket, white tail-tip, and purple eyes ((this is my rewrite and I say purple-eyed ravenpaw rights.))

Like his brother he is 9 moons old

Ravenpaw is very grateful for his mentor. At first he feared he'd be given to a cat like Tigerclaw. But when he was given to Mosscloud, he calmed down, if only slightly. He appreciates her kind words and encouragement, and he responds well when she pushes him to do better. He wants to make Mosscloud proud

Graypaw

Longhaired gray tom with yellow eyes, a broad head, and a darker gray stripe from his forehead to his tail-tip. He looks like a British Longhair

He is 6 moons old at the start of Into the Wild, just like in canon. In fact, he'd been named an apprentice the sunhigh before he met Rusty.

He is still Willowpelt's son, despite having siblings who are two moons younger than him. Willowpelt became pregnant again not long after Graykit had been born.

Firepaw

Tom, handsome sorrel Abyssinian mix with green eyes. He's just...really orange

He's plump when he first comes to Thunderclan. Actually he remains kinda chubby

He's 6 moons at the start of Into the Wild

Queens:

Frostfur

Dilute tortoishell point siamese she-cat with a plumy tail and blue eyes

Obviously, her mate is Lionheart. They're the kinda couple who's really mushy and lovey

Her kits are Brackenkit, Swiftkit, and Snowkit

Willowpelt

Silver shaded white she-cat with a broad head and rich blue eyes ("rich" as in super blue. Like deep ocean blue). She looks like a British Shorthair

I decided to make her a queen early. I really like Willowpelt and I think she'd be good as a queen longer

Her mate is Whitestorm

Her kits are Cinderkit and Mistlekit

Before her current kits, Willowpelt had had 2 seperate litters before. Her first born is Darkstripe, who had siblings who had died young. He has an unknown father, but its suspected that he's half Shadowclan. Willowpelt's next litter consisted of one kit: Graypaw, who is also suspected to be half Shadowclan, but by a different tom.

Cinderkit and Mistlekit were born two moons after Graypaw was. This is because Willowpelt had had an out of clan affair, and while expecting a litter, fell in love with Whitestorm. When she was able to, she and Whitestorm mated and it resulted in kits a little sooner than either had expected. Yes this is a real thing that can happen, female cats can get pregnant again anywhere from 1-8 weeks after kitting.

Brindleface

Silver-gray spotted tabby she-cat with yellow-green eyes (I know what Brindle means but I've always headcanoned her to look like this)

She's expecting kits. Nobody knows who the father is though

Goldenflower

Pretty longhaired golden she-cat with broad shoulders, a broad head, and green eyes

She's incredibly fluffy. Even moreso than her brother

Her kits are Brightkit and Thornkit

Nobody knows who the father of her kits are, and she's going to keep it that way

Speckletail

Chocolate tortoishell she-cat

She doesn't have any kits as she is too old. She's just a permanent queen who likes helping newer mothers and kitsitting. She probably won't ever retire.

Kits:

Cinderkit

Blue-gray she-cat with a broad face and blue eyes

She's almost old enough to become an apprentice

Brackenkit

Golden-brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Brackenkit and his littermates are about a moon younger than Willowpelt's kits

Brightkit

Long haired white and ginger patched she-cat with green eyes

She's about a moon old

Thornkit

Longhaired golden tabby tom with orange eyes

Like his sister, he's a moon old

Swiftkit

White and black patched tom with heterochromatic eyes (one yellow and one blue)

Snowkit

Mostly pure white tom with blue eyes and a small patch of gray on the bridge of his nose. He is 100% deaf

I'm keeping this precious baby alive, you'll have to pry him out of my cold dead hands

Mistlekit

Silver shaded white she-cat with a plumy tail and yellow eyes

In canon she's Snowkit's littermate (who the Erins completely forgot about) soo I've revamped her and turned her into Cinderkit's littermate.

Like her sister she's about ready to become an apprentice

Elders:

Halftail

Dark brown tabby tom with a nubby torn off tail

Smallear

Gray tom with small folded ears

Patchpelt

Small black and white patched tom

One-eye

Pale gray she-cat, oldest cat in Thunderclan

Dappletail

Once pretty tortoishell she-cat

Thrushpelt

Lilac classic tabby tom with yellow eyes

He's still in love woth Bluefur but as always it's pretty one sided.

He adores Mosscloud with all his heart as if she were his own kit. As far as he and the clan's concerned, she is his kit. He's so happy he got to be involved in raising at least one of Bluestar's litter

Rosetail

Dilute mostly gray tortoishell with a pale ginger tail, and a white underbelly and paws

She retired early when Thistleclaw died

One day Bluestar explained to her how terrible her brother was, and even though she knows and understands, she still misses him

Cats outside the clan:

Smudge

Tom, Harliquine purebred Japanese Bobtail. Aka he's white and black patched and has a cute nubby tail

He has a little red bowtie collar

Yellowfang

Longhaired, flat faced, dark gray she-cat with a ragged scarred pelt, a yellow snaggle tooth, and orange eyes

Her name is actually Smokefang, but when she's exiled from Shadowclan she changes it.

Cats used to call her yellow-fang as an insult to her hygiene, so she took it on as her identity cause she's that bitch

Jake

Tom, purebred sorrel Abyssinian with amber eyes and a rainbow collar

Why do his owners let him roam around??? They probably don't know he's a pedigree purebred tbh

Nutmeg

Ginger and white tabby she-cat with green eyes

Princess

She-cat, ruddy and white Abyssinian mix with amber eyes and a pink collar

Barley

Black and white tom with yellow eyes and a red bandanna around his neck

Probably has a southern accent

Scourge

Tom, small all black Abyssinian mix with one white paw, ice blue eyes, a tooth studded collar, and dog teeth reinforced claws

Gotta talk about my boi if we're talking about a rewrite. He's probably got a genetic condition through Quince that makes him so damn small. Not to mention he's a runt

His collar is purple cause I make the rules here. And the very front has a bird skull because that's edgy and its a nod to flightfootwarrior/aka @ corvidkatana's old scourge design which I'm incredibly fond of

Also he has a hard time talking and walking. His collar's kinda tight on him now and it hurts to talk. His usual silence comes out more intimidating anyways. As for the difficulty walking thats due to his claws.

#viti's rewrite #warrior cats #wcs #warrior cats rewrite #long post #Im on mobile rn I'll put it under a readmore tonight

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warriors-on-shadowed-wings · 5 years

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Book One - Chapter One

“But Mama,” Ravenkit whined, leaning away as Willowpelt’s tongue rasped at his shoulder, “I don’t want to be an apprentice yet! I’m not ready!”

The gray molly sighed, moving to pin her kit between her paws like an unruly toddler. “Raven, darling, you’re too big for the nursery now. And we need the room you’re taking up to house the new kits and queens. Besides, you don’t want to watch your sister and brother grow up without you, do you?” She flicked her tail, indicating where the kits’ father, Whitestorm, was helping his other son, Graykit, work the tangles out of his long, fluffy pelt. Mallowkit, their sister, was busy stalking a beetle, her amber eyes focused on her prey. A swift pounce, and it was caught under a paw.

Ravenkit sighed, black ears drooping. “I’m just scared, Mama. Can’t we do this tomorrow?”

Whitestorm lifted his head from Graykit’s tail. “If we put it off one day, you’ll want to put it off another. And another after that, and after that. I know growing up can be scary, but think about all you’ll learn as an apprentice and all you’ll do as a warrior!”

“Yeah,” Mallowkit chirped, the beetle already forgotten and scurrying away to safety. “I mean, how’re we gonna keep our territory safe if we don’t learn how to fight? I hope we get to chase a fox off tomorrow! Or fight one of the other Clans!”

Graykit laughed, squirming out from under his father’s paws. “Really, Mallow? Skinny as you are, I bet you couldn’t fight a rabbit!”

“I can fight you, you big mossy lump!” Laughing and squealing, the two kits pounced at each other and fell into the grass, rolling and wrestling.

Willowpelt sighed fondly. “They take after my littermates. Mousefur and Rushfoot never could keep their pelts clean when we were young.”

Whitestorm laughed, gently tugging the children apart. “You can play later, once your mentors have shown you battle moves to practice.”

Graypaw grinned. “Who do you think we’ll get? I hope I get Lionheart or Tigerclaw as a mentor! They’re great fighters.”

“Or Robinwing,” Mallowkit suggested. “She’s not as big as the others, but she’s fast! I heard she took out a whole nest of badgers all on her own!”

“Being a warrior isn’t all about fighting,” a new voice chided. One-Eye, an old gray molly with a scarred face, stepped around the edge of the nursery and sat in the shade of an old maple tree. “Remember, dear, it’s the warriors that feed the Clan, the warriors that pass the wisdom of our ancestors on to the young, and the warriors who keep our Clan running.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Willowpelt said, moving to brush her cheek against the older molly’s forehead. “Besides, Graykit, Lionheart is already training Quailpaw. Now, unless a cat can suddenly train two apprentices, I think he’s got his paws full.”

“He has more than enough to handle already,” Whitestorm agreed. “Quailpaw has more energy than I’ve seen in an apprentice in seasons.”

One-Eye laughed. “Oh, he’s no worse than Rushfoot was as an apprentice. Though it will get harder to keep him in line now that new-leaf is on us.”

Willowpelt nodded. “I’m looking forward to the change, honestly. Even if it will mean more unruly apprentices and young warriors, it means we’re free of greencough.”

Ravenkit paused in grooming his tail, remembering the nurserymates, Asterkit and Otterkit, that had died early in the winter. They had been the littermates of Quailpaw and Spottedleaf’s apprentice Birchpaw, and were just days from their own apprenticehood before they had become ill. The queen Leafcloud and two of her kits, Barkkit and Fawnkit, had passed away as well. Stormkit was the only survivor, and had been a foster-sister to Willowpelt’s litter.

Then a longhaired gray molly popped out of the nursery, stumbling over to where her adopted siblings sat. “What’s going on, Mama?”

Willowpelt sighed. Leafcloud had died in kitting; Willowpelt was the only mother Stormkit had ever known. Before she could speak, though, Mallowkit leapt up and bounded over to her younger sister. “We’re going to be apprenticed today, Stormie!”

The little kit’s eyes went wide as her tail fluffed out. “We are?! Oh my gosh, that’s awesome! When? Do I look okay? Oh, who am I being apprenticed to?”

Whitestorm laughed, leaning over to groom the child’s head. “You’re still a bit too young, kiddo. Remember, your siblings are a couple of moons older than you.”

“…Oh.” Stormkit’s ears drooped. “Does that mean I’m gonna be in the nursery all alone?”

Mallowkit flicked an ear in Ravenkit’s direction. “Raven wants to be a kit forever, but he’s a whiny baby.”

“Mallow!” Willowpelt’s tone was sharp. “Be nice to your brother. It’s perfectly normal to be worried about growing up.” She turned to Stormkit. “Besides, dear. You’re not going to be alone at all. I’ll be staying in the nursery with you until you’re apprenticed, and you can help Brindleface and I settle the new queens in this new-leaf. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Stormkit sighed. “I guess.”

“We’ll come visit,” Graykit offered. “And we’ll show you all the cool things we learned from our mentors! Then you’ll be ahead when it’s time to start your own training!”

Stormkit seemed to perk up at that. “Really?” She turned to Ravenkit. “You gotta go too then! I wanna learn as much as I can!”

Ravenkit sighed. “Stormie...” He shook his head. “I can’t say no to that face. Fine, no more complaining from me.”

Mallow’s triumphant teasing was cut off by a rush of activity at the camp entrance, as a brown tabby tom came tumbling through, dragging a large rabbit along with him. He regained his footing and composure long enough to gently place the slightly-battered piece of prey on the fresh-kill pile, and then came bounding over to the cluster of cats by the nursery.

“I’m not too late, am I? I came back as quick as I could! Redtail was being such a stick in the mud, all ‘slow down’ and ‘have more respect for the prey.’ My niece and nephews are about to be apprenticed! I can’t miss that!”

Willowpelt laughed and headbutted her brother in the shoulder. “Calm down, Rushfoot, you’re not late at all. Bluestar likely won’t hold the ceremony until sunhigh.”

“Sounds like someone’s got in trouble with the deputy for no reason, then,” a dark tabby growled, stomping into the camp.

“Aw, stuff it, Darkstripe,” Rushfoot spat, tail stiff.

A dusky brown molly slipped in after the tabby, a lanky red tom beside her. “Darkstripe, don’t be such a brat. Or did that vole drop burrs in your tail when it slipped between your paws?”

The red tom growled and shoved himself between the three cats. “Enough! I won’t have another word from any of you three. That’s the last time any of you go on a hunting patrol for the next moon. You’ll be lucky if I don’t confine your tails to camp!” Still muttering under his breath, he snatched up the thrush he’d set down, placed it on the pile, and stalked back out of camp.

One-eye flicked an ear and beckoned the molly over with her tail. “Go fetch the rest in a moment, Mousefur. What’s gotten Redtail so cranky today?”

Mousefur shrugged. “No idea, Mama. But if I leave him to take all the prey back in, I know I won’t see another Gathering for at least two moons.” Dipping her head in an apology, she turned and scurried back out of camp.

Rushfoot stood up. “Me too, probably. I don’t know if there’s so much that all four of us will need to carry things back, but… It’s probably best if I go help.” With that, the tom padded after his sister.

Ravenkit frowned, eyes still locked on the entry tunnel. “Redtail seems scary when he’s angry. I don’t think I want him for my mentor.”

One-eye laughed and pulled the kit close. “Now hush, you. Redtail’s a sweetheart, he’s just having a bad day. Did I ever tell you about my mentor, Ashflight, and how she was acting the day I was apprenticed?”

Ravenkit turned with eager eyes. “No, but I’d love to hear it!” The elders’ stories were one of the things he’d miss most about the nursery, but with apprenticehood came Gatherings, which meant he’d have a chance to speak with the elders of the other Clans and learn their stories as well. It was something of a comfort, at least.

“Well,” One-eye started. “As you know, Fogpelt and I were rather rowdy kits. I’ve told you all about the shenanigans we got up to.” At Ravenkit’s nod, she continued. “Well. He and I were having one last game of mossball that turned into a wrestling match. And do you know what happened?”

“What?” Mallowkit was still for once, listening eagerly with her tail curled over her paws.

“We blundered straight into the fresh-kill pile. Just as Ashflight was setting her catch down.” She smiled as the kits gasped. “All three of us went tumbling halfway across camp, food scattered everywhere. Oh goodness, did we get a chewing-out! I thought I’d rather have a badger for a mentor than her.”

Graykit’s eyes widened. “Wasn’t it a badger that got your eye?”

One-eye nodded gravely. “Ashflight died defending me from that badger. That was also the day I got my warrior name. I might’ve been a little afraid of her at first, but after just a little while? I came to recognize that Ashflight was the best mentor I could have asked for.” She bent her head and licked Ravenkit’s nose. “So if you get apprenticed to Redtail today, just remember – Sometimes the scariest mentors are the best ones to have.”

Ravenkit tipped his head to the side thoughtfully, mulling this new advice over. “So the scarier the mentor is, the better off I’ll be?”

One-Eye winced. “Not… Exactly. But there’s not a cat in Thunderclan who would be a bad mentor for you or your siblings.”

Just then, Bluestar emerged from her den, Redtail beside her. She smiled at Ravenkit as she turned and hopped up to the top of the Great Rock.

Ravenkit’s ears flattened. “I, uh. I forgot something in the nursery! I gotta go get it!” He turned and started to sprint back into the tangle of brush that had protected him and his littermates for so long. Whitestorm grabbed his scruff gently and tugged him back towards the clearing.

“You can get it later. Now it’s time for your ceremony.”

Sure enough, Bluestar’s voice rang over the clearing. “All cats old enough to catch their own prey come before me. I call Thunderclan to meet!”

Ravenkit didn’t even realize his fur was bristling again until Willowpelt’s tongue rasped over his head. “Calm down, little one.” Her tone was probably meant to be reassuring, but the tom thought he saw exasperation in his mother’s eyes. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”

“I dunno,” Mallowkit jeered. “You might get Tigerclaw or Darkstripe as a mentor. They won’t put up with a baby like you.”

Graykit reached out and bopped his sister’s head. “Shuddup, Mal. He’s actually scared, don’t tease him.”

Ravenkit’s ears flattened. “I’m not scared,” he muttered, but the rest of his retort was cut off by One-eye’s nose nudging him forward.

“Quit jabbering and get out there!”

Ravenkit looked up to see Bluestar peering down from the Great Rock, a good-natured look of annoyance on her face.

“If we’re all ready to begin?” The cats gathered around chuckled at that. Stomach twisting with embarrassment, Ravenkit stepped forward into the center of the clearing.

#warriors au #warrior cats fanfic #warriors rewrite #warrior cats rewrite #Warrior Cats #ravenpaw #warrior!ravenpaw #book one #chapter one #FROM THE GRAVE I RISE #because i can't write without external motivation apparently #will reblog with ao3 link later tonight

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