#i just really love squirrelflight i used to hate her for like no reason but now i love her

[cannibalmapleshade]

eve, first woman

#squirrelflight #squirrelstar #thunderclan #leaders #deputies #warrior cats #wc #warrior cats designs #wc designs #starclan #i made a religious connection between her and leafpool and eve and mary from the bible #eve is often viewed as the less desirable woman and unholy by the church and more earthly #and that just really reminds me of squirrelflight in a way #anyways wont go too indepth cuz aint nobody reading allat #hc time #i hc shes more tom boyish than feminine cuz i love viewing her as a tomboy its cute #also hc she just wears her fur/hair like that just cuz it looks cool and shes been doing it since she was an apprentice #shes also bigger than leafpool in my mind cuz i think its cute #hc voices i have for her are cake the cat or nicki minaj its just the vibes they give are so squirrelflightcore #i just really love squirrelflight i used to hate her for like no reason but now i love her

[willicebattlecatsblog]

Weird idea but hear me out :

Something that always kind of "scratched" my brain was that the three have animal names, while Hollyleaf has a plant name, so I guess her name was foreshadowing the fact that she wasn't part of the Three.

However Hollyleaf is seen having connexions with ghosts (such as Fallen Leaves)

We know that the Dark Forest and the Starclan cats can interact with living cats (like literally fighting, talking to them, and in certain conditions, gift them powers). We also know that there is a place where non-believing cats go to (as Ravenpaw declined his place to Starclan to go wherever Barley goes to after his death), which I will call the Nowhere for simplicity

So what if Hollyleaf was gifted powers by the cats from the Nowhere ? Not random kittypets, but Clan cats / loners who literally stopped believing in Starclan because they perceived Starclan as a destructive and dangerous entity. Clan cats who rejected Starclan because it was manipulating living cats and making their life a living hell for seemingly no purpose (Squirrelflight, Leafpool for example, or Jayfeather, Goosefeather). Starclan refused to accept these cats after their deaths because, while they were good cats, they refused to follow Starclan's instructions, and therefore ended up in the Nowhere. In this AU, Fallen Leaves is part of the Nowhere and even when he espaces the tunnels, he refuses to join Starclan as he feels furious that Starclan left him for 100 years lost alone in the tunnels.

After the Three drowned Ashfur together (a great teamwork right there), Hollyleaf feels incredibly guilty. She was always obsessed with following the Warrior Code, and breaking it by killing a cat - Her own clanmate - made her feel horrible. She ends up telling everyone the Truth at the gathering just like in canon, but takes all the responsability of Ashfur's murder, making her brothers seem innocent. She doesn't try to kill Leafpool as she has grown way too attached to her aunt - now mother - and instead she asks for the full story. Leafpool explains everything, including how Starclan manipulated her and Squirrelflight. Hollyleaf is horrified at everything she learns and feels she doesn't belong. She immediately rushes to the tunnels, where she gets trapped.

She spends a long time reflecting, and feels betrayed by Starclan. She expected to have powers like her brothers, and for no reason at all, she gets none. Why wasn't she gifted anything ? Why would Starclan even gift kits born from a forbidden love ? Why did Starclan lie to Squirrelflight so that she would for sure adopt Leafpool's kits ?Did Starclan trap Leafpool and Squirrelflight on purpose, for their own entertainment ?

In the tunnels, she meets Fallen Leaves, and through him, is able to enter in contact with the Nowhere, and all the Clan cats who felt betrayed and used by Starclan.

This is just a small idea for now but I really like this concept :) and also I hate Starclan grrr

I call this AU Hollyleaf from the Nowhere for now !

This AU is connected with the Lionblaze is Scourge AU for now too !

IMPORTANT THING : The cats on the top of the picture are ghosts, not Starclan cats ! Starclan cats have stars on their pelt, while ghosts and wandering spirits just have a white outline in my depictions !

#wc au #wc art #hollyleaf wc #hollyleaf #hollyleaf warrior cats #lionblaze is scourge au #hollyleaf from the nowhere

[skyclan-funny-name-squad]

More reasons it'd be really cool if Kittypets are fae

Gives Tigerstar more motive if it's seen more that his dad was stolen by the fae and he doesn't want Rusty to bewitch the rest of his clan or something

Tallstar and Jake are now even BETTER because Jake gets to show Tallstar kittypet tricks and Tallstar is like "wow i love my powerful fae boyfriend"

FAE SKYCLAN

I just really like the phrase pet-touched in the same vein of fae-touched

FAE SCOURGE FAE SCOURGE FAE SCOURGE TIGERSTAR SPENDS THE WHOLE SERIES TRYING TO DEFEAT A FAE FIGURES THAT A FAE MIGHT BE THE ONLY THING THAT CAN BEAT A FAE AND SCOURGE MURDERS THE SHIT OUT OF TIGERSTAR AFTER TIGERSTAR BREAKS THEIR DEAL WHICH JUST FURTHER MAKES THE CLANS CONVINCED KITTYPETS ARE FAE

I think Berrynose should be even MORE insufferable as a treat

I feel like Ashfur would accuse Squirrelflight of using fae magic to manipulate him and while he's a dick for doing it and I hate him it could be a really interesting scene

Graystripe having to deal with being pet-touched and people being very suspicious of his new fae girlfriend

Cloudtail using pretend fae magic to help Brightheart, putting like a flower in her fur and using her belief to be like "yeah this flower? ive imbued it with courage" and its very cute and then they can have a reveal that the courage was in Brightheart all along and yeah I know its cliche but dammit its CUTE

Does this make dogs also fae? Are dogs the Unseelie to the kittypets Seelie? Does this make people even more "hey what the fuck" about Millie when she reveals she can speak dog

Let Purdy learn about this and tell even WILDER lies because no one can tell him that he can't do a thing because fuck you he's a kittypet he can do lots of things you can't actually.

Firestar gets to say the word fuck and everyones like "gasp a kittypet word of power" which is hilarious to me

Jayfeather threatening people with fae magic and medicine cat knowledge sounds really funny especially if he uses his dream walking with it to scare the shit out of them

#warrior cats #warriors #warrior #warrior cat #fae kittypet au #skyclan #scourge #millie warriors #scourge warriors #millie #graystripe #cloudtail #ashfur #berrynose #tigerstar #kittypet #tallstar #jayfeather

[oldmemoria]

hate the ultimate guide. heres a few reasons why.

reused art: I understand how hard it is to make art, especially at that calliber of detail. I'm an artist, I get it. but the charm of the original ultimate guide was that we had these hand painted, unique pieces of art of these characters, it showed a little personality too.

How stale and lifeless the art is: This is a complaint that I've had with the current western artist for years, the art is just... boring. the colors are pretty, yeah, like wow hyperrealistic cats. cool. but what else? can we see their personalities? what's the book gonna be like? the old covers had that charm, but not these ones. at all. (also is that even... i could not tell that was runningnose and littlecloud. i mean. runningnose has water in his snout, thats not what cat snot looks like but go off. he just looks a little soggy ig, not in a perpetual state of sick.)

Lack of Personality: this is a different complaint I promise. I dont like how the art seems to take away the personality of every character so theyre staring stoicly at the camera. some of these characters arent all that stoic. I never liked the firestar art in the last hope because I deadass thought it was mapleshade until someone told me it was firestar. firestar isnt this scary, stalky cat in the shadows. not to normal people at least. if i can mistake your main character as one of the villains in your cover art that isnt fucking good. I don't want to see these cats staring bug eyed at the camera, I want to be able to tell what they're like JUST from a glance at the art. Who is that- harestar?? why doesnt he look nervous?? he looks almost noble here, which is the opposite of who he's supposed to be, he's a wuss and a loser and i love him for it. like girl that is NOT mudclaw thats some random cat i saw at the shelter once, WHERES HIS ANGER? WHERES HIS FUCKING RAGE??? RISE RISE RISE RISE RISE RI

the Characters are hard to recognize, even with the title cards: Who are these cats. who. who the fuck are they. I can recognize a few cats, sure, but thats if I can pick out a defining trait. Squirrelflights tail, Scourges Collar, Ravenpaw's white chest, those are things that are explicitly told to us that these characters have, but everyone else??? WHO??? Like that was supposed to be leafstar?? HUH?? Wait that's supposed to be Oakheart? I cant even tell if hes red, its so YELLOW OUT I CANT FUCKING TEL WHO HE IS. Sagewhisker is described with yellow eyes, yet she has blue ones in the ultimate guide (i dont usually get pissy about eye color but not only are these cats supposed to be distinct from each other but i really like sagewhisker and i would die for her, yes i will gatekeep her from the artist fucking fight me), Bluestar is barely recognizable, i didnt know who half of these cats were before i read their nameplate. thats not a good thing.

Red mapleshade. Why she red. WHY SHE RED.

Leafpool. I didn't even know that was you at first but man they did you dirty.

sol. dude that is not sol no matter how much you stretch it- why is he a tabby?? hes supposed to be a tortie, why does he look like lionblaze?? and even then he doesnt look that lionlike, even though hollyleaf literally thought he was when she first saw him like what?? HUH???

mothwing. why she anger. also why she not fluffy

squirrelflight. i always hated her SE art but seeing the whole thing makes me angrier. like she isnt not accurate to canon or anything i just... hate it. i hate it withe very fibre of my being. ALSO WHERE IS HER PERSONALITY I WANT TO SEE HER BEING ENERGETIC NOT STARING 😐 AT THE CAMERA FUCKING HELL-

yeah, so im not gonna buy this book. i dont even want to know how they wrorte any of the female characters to make them somehow evil or how they somehow make a completely irridemable male character a sweet uwu baby. and everyone has talked about the ableism to death so im not going to beat this clearly still living horse, im just gonna let you find it yourself.

#warrior cats #warrior cats the ultimate guide #warrior cats ultimate edition #warriors #fuck this book

[wc-confessions]

This is a very long rant. There might be spelling, grammar errors, or random words there because of autocorrect, and I might miss them since I'm a bit blind and dyslexic.

The way the fandom instantly chalks up female character hate to misogyny is so damn ridiculous, and both shows people here don't know what that word means, and they also don't actually give a damn about the actual misogyny that women suffer if someone hating or slightly disliking a female character sets them off. The prime examples of characters that people get called misogynists for are Mapleshade, Squirrelflight, and, surprisingly, Frecklewish. I can guarantee you that nobody who hates or dislikes these characters is misogynist, and it's rare that you'll actually find a Warriors fan who is blatantly misogynist while understanding how and why they are. For one, not everyone here understands what things are and aren't misogynist, and to stick that label to them for zero reason is super shitty. There are many reasons why people hate the characters listed:

Mapleshade: Generally, she is just dumb as hell, cruelly used Birchface's name to cover up her lies,showed zero remorse when brought to trial, and stupidly crossed a flash-flooded river when there was a bridge (already somewhat flooded when she got there, if I remember). But if not, it was still heavily raining. Blame everyone else for the things she caused and did; she killed Spottedleaf (this is why some people hate her, yes, lol, and frecklewish, and attempted to on Reedshine). And for grooming kids, and for those who will argue that she isn't, you're instantly wrong, and simply reading the books while also looking at the definitions of that word will prove you're wrong. I am saying this as a victim of this topic. Crookedstar and Tigerstar are her victims. While Crookedkit was vulnerable and tossed aside, she took advantage of this and later went in to exploit him, emotionally abuse him, and cause psychological turmoil and distress. She later went on to do this to Tigerkit. Since birth, she has been inside his head, telling him what to do and raising him to be the cold killer he is. She even admits in his novella that she's walked with him since birth. While her grooming isn't sexual, it's still extremely gross. I can't speak for everyone who hates her, but this is the biggest reason I don't like her.

Frecklewish: Yes, while she was definitely grieving, and while Mapleshade was definitely a ass and in the wrong for her lies, Frecklewish is far from innocent. She never truly loved those kits and only saw them as extensions of her late brother once the truth was revealed that they weren't really related and instead were the kin of his killer. That's what caused her to turn on them so quickly; her "love" was purely conditional. She then went on to dehumanize and call literal babies slurs, tell them that they don't deserve to be warriors, and later call for their exile without a second thought. No matter how angry you are, don't do that to children. Mapleshade definitely deserved her wrath, but not those kids. And it just gets worse as she watches them drown. I don't care how much people try to argue about it; she did. Her story directly lines up with what Nettlepaw tells Mapleshade. What Mapleshade thinks isn't a misunderstanding; this isn't something she came up with herself because Nettlepaw literally told her this. However, everything else Mapleshade says and thinks is totally unreliable. Frecklewish also doesn't at all deny that she watched them die and instead says, "I thought they'd be saved.". Her seeing the Riverclan patrol isn't an excuse for why she couldn't have gotten more help. Those kits aren't even half the size of a medium-sized rock, so how could three RC cats find them in flooded waters? And before anyone says it, nobody is saying that she should've just jumped in; you're purposefully missing the point. It's a fact that she and Oakstar played a large role in why they met their fate the way they did.

Squirrelflight: I can't actually give a reason why people would hate her because I don't care enough about her and because I don't usually read the main books. However, it's usually for reasons that don't even relate to Bramblestar. People are often called misogynists for hating her without anyone bothering to know why. Also, no, hating her because you like Bramblestar doesn't make you a misogynist. Not how that works. Now maybe if you denied that he abused her, then yeah, that's misogyny, but if you're a normal Bramblestar fan, then no, you're not misogyny.

And to add on

Nightcloud is a big one I see people also get called misogynists for. It's important to remember that not a lot of people read books and heavily rely on maps or other people's opinions and interpretations to get information. Let's not forget that the maps that woobify Crowfeather and demonize her play a huge part in why Nightcloud is treated the way she is. So I think it's majorly unfair to just label a bunch of Nightcloud haters who probably don't know the actual story as being misogynistic. Realistically, Nightcloud is just a lady. She didn't do anything wrong other than being overly jealous. Also, no, she did not hit Crowfeather; she just pulled him away. (Stop labeling her as an abuser, goddamn.)

I'm anyway done, but I just wanted to say that I think it's incredibly stupid to see people throwing around this word. I just hope you know that if you're randomly calling people misogynists for no reason, then you're part of the problem, and you're just another toxic asshole. Please fix yourself or get out the fandom.

.

#text #confession #warrior cats

[songsteps]

okay I broke and read Sky in a day here are my general thoughts

Frostpaw my baby you really are The Only (tm) A Starless Clan protagonist... she's the only one I don't have any particular negative feelings towards and I'm genuinely interested in her storyline, also I love seeing how much it's highlighted that Mothwing is incredibly capable and responsible, like we all knew she was but, makes me happy that some attention seems to be brought to it :)

like man I know she would want to stay a med cat and she DESERVES WHAT SHE WANTS but tbh? I feel she'd make a good leader.... Mothstar

and I think that's all I really have to say that's good

god I hate Nightheart now, like my original interpretation of him in River that he might be good and was relatable was based upon the fact that he seemed a lot more genuinely insecure like thinking he has capabilities but fucking up because of an (irrational) focus on lineage and overthinking shit, and the thing he felt he deserved was more his own identity, which is fair, and I thought they might take a more complex route exploring that BUT NO, like, I feel like the things that get passed around the most that garner hate for him are probably just more shocking and yea could probably be explained away but it doesn't matter cause the biggest problem with him is instead of having like plausibly having a fight with self doubt and stuff like I viewed him in River he's constantly like "well I deserve RESPECT for HOW GREAT I AM and just no one can see that" like dude, shut up where are you getting the idea that you're so great, and I just, completely rescind all my previous opinions on him, even though my inital expectations of his character would've been better for a protagonist that wouldn't have made want to throw my phone at the wall while I read the book. Which I think was why I was much more inclined to interpret him that way initally but like, to anyone still attached to him there is no question at this point this isn't just a case of a young adult having an angst session this is a character thinking he deserves things that he hasn't earned like especially in the case of his warrior duties he has proven he doesn't deserve respect in that regard, outright blames Squirrelflight repeatedly, like it comes down to his self righteousness instead of self questioning you know? that's the thing that is the crux of his shittiness as a person and I understand wanting to cling to an inital interpretation of him being more complex but his ridiculously prominent self righteousness just kills any reasonable interpretation that requires anything but a complete overhaul of his personality. like, I like Crowfeather, I don't like or accept everything he does in canon but there's enough that is not stated to us and enough depth behind the intention of his character that allows some different interpretations of him as someone who can and does eventually choose change without entirely breaking from the story given to us, but god... NIGHTHEART IS NOT IN THAT BOAT

Sunbeam is... okay as a character I guess? I wasn't fond of how she treated Lightleap though I still guess it's an understandable temporary emotion, her taste in toms makes me a lil more hesitant to give her as much slack on that as I might otherwise, but her interactions with her mother Berryheart are interesting, though that is really the only interesting thing in this arc besides what's going on in RiverClan

these books still make me angry, but I do want to see what happens to RiverClan myself, though I can't quite theorize what exactly is going on yet. Berryheart and Sunbeam's conflict is interesting as well, I honestly can't give a shit about anything else like I have so little to say on the plot because I honestly feel like this book didn't really... feel like it added much more to the story

hey! I've got a good idea! only Frostpaw and... I guess Sunbeam (for her interactions w/ her mother) get a POV in the books after this one, Frostpaw gets more chapters though so we can focus on the only plot thread that is significantly interesting

I know it's not gonna happen but it'd make the rest of this arc so much more fucking bearable

#frostpaw #nightheart #sunbeam #warriors #warrior cats #a starless clan #warriors asc #like the way Nightheart just KEPT BLAMING SQUIRRELFLIGHT WHEN SHE WAS CLEARLY NOT BEING CRUEL #he'd make a great villain protagonist! TO BAD THE ERINS CAN'T WRITE AND SEE ALL THEIR MALE CHARACTERS AS AUTOMATICALLY CORRECT #ugh #ughhhhh

[cryptidclaw]

Some people don't seem to understand that Bramble wasn't upset at the three, he took it out on them (wrongly) because he was upset he had been lied to by the cat he was supposed to be able to trust (by which she proved she didn't trust him.) People also seem to forget Bramble himself had adopted 'siblings' in Feathertail and Stormfur! I'm a psychology major (I'm graduating with my BA this summer so I'd like to think I'm a little qualified to profile and diagnose these fictional meow meows,) in the situation with Squirrel, Leaf and the three, Bramble didn't know who to take his frustrations and anger out on, hence it manifesting on the three, and him being a not-so-great husband to Squirrel. They should have split up, but the Erin's don't understand divorce is a thing ig, it would have been a) much better for them both mentally, and b) it would have provided a new narrative for the story (even if it was a b plot.) Both Squirrel and Bramble (and subsequently Leaf as well but she's a different story I'm not going to get in to rn) are in the wrong. They both did things they shouldn't, I wish people would stop assuming Bramble is just an abuser because he can be (honestly I don't think he even qualifies as an abuser, not even mentally. He and Squirrel fall into the same category of not being able to properly express their emotions without getting angry. Take a look at some of the things Squirrel says to Bramble during TNP and vice versa. These two, in my own opinion, should never have become mates, they fit more as siblings.) And they need to stop calling Squirrelflight petty and childish. These two went through hell as children, Bramble via Tigerstar and that drama (along with likely having PTSD from TNP) and Squirrel dealing with the TNP stuff (again PTSD likely) and then having the burden of others comparing her to Firestar. They both have issues. No one is innocent in this situation, and I just wish people would realize that.

Yes, Bramble absolutely was mad at Squirrel not the 3, and he took his anger out on the three because he is terrible with emotions (and a terrible dad). 

I think that Bramble had every right to be mad at Squirrel for not telling him, he was lied to about his own children, by his mate. That being said, I 100% understand why Squirrel didn’t tell him, Bramble has shown no reason for why Squirrel should trust him, and he has shown to be an easily angered cat who will greatly punish Squirrel for the smallest offences. Squirrel had no reason to believe that Bramble would help her and Leaf if he knew, and since Bramble is in a place of power, telling him could endanger Leaf and Squirrel. Also! Squirrel didn’t even want to take the kits because she didn’t want to lie to Bramble, but Starclan literally told/tricked her into doing it. That doesn’t change that Bramble is allowed to be mad, and hurt by what happened, I really think they should have just stayed divorced after this. 

This is like the one time I can understand, and validate Bramble’s anger toward Squirrel for something, every singe other time they fight he is in the wrong. I hate him sm.

I also want to say that even though its understandable for Bramble to be mad at Squirrel, his actions as a result of his anger are in no way okay. He is terrible to his children, and he is terrible to Squirrel. Even if he is mad at her, he has no right to make her life hell, he is deputy (aka. her boss) and he is shown to use his power to take his anger out on Squirrel many many times. 

I also want to point out that it literally took Bramble wanting to help Shadowclan out of love for Tawnypelt to realize that Squirrelflight did what she did because she loves her sister.... Like BRO why did you think she did it??? out of just feeling like fucking with you??? He’s so stupid, and is so bad at empathy. 

Anywho I do really think that Bramblestar shows some serious signs of being an abuser, and to anyone who wants a good explanation for why a lot of ppl think this watch Moonkitti’s vid Bramblestar is Worse! It gives a really good summary of the Bramble is an abuser argument.

#cryptid answers #brambleclaw #squirrelflight #po3

[look-how-they-massacred-them]

Preliminary Poll

Sparkpelt

Submission reason:

Technically she wasn't great starting out, though I firmly believe this is her earliest mischaracterization, based on an extremely common theme; Warriors often needs a background character to suddenly be weirdly xenophobic only for it to never be mentioned again, so they spin a wheel and woah! That character who was previously just shown to be headstrong and the more courageous counterpart to her anxious brother thinks that this new clan should have never come there actually and hates them as a result! This characterization goes away pretty quickly, as does all the weird behavior these books give their background characters. These books are horribly written. However, the characterization I'm talking about that I love and the books apparently don't is her Squirrelflight's Hope and Broken Code behavior. In Squirrelflight's Hope, which I think is ultimately poorly written aside from some complete accidents but at least has my favorite Sparkpelt, Sparkpelt gets to have some of her spunk back, and only really have distasteful views of outsiders because their is proof that they're literally poisoning her clan, including her cat husband and eventually her. Sparkpelt gets to be the one to call out Bramblestar (another character who was massacred by canon, albeit in a way the writers don't seem to realize is bad) being a really bad husband actually. She ends up having kits during the book, but that happens in the same moment where her cat husband dies. This leads to her being unable to raise them out of grief and as a result of depression, but she ends up being convinced to start taking the right actions to be in their lives right as they're at the point where they'll start actually being able to remember this stuff later, and she is present for every moment they remember. In the Broken Code, she ends up standing against the newly possessed Bramblestar and getting used as dog food for it, but she lives. Also, prior to this point, she was shown to only not want to get punished with exile because she was worried about her kits, who she is shown to love dearly. She is eventually exiled, but her daughter, Finchpaw, follows her. Flamepaw is given the option to join them, and he chooses not to. She is later re-allowed into the clan, reunited with Flamepaw and all is fine and good. Now, with that out of the way, here's how the writers and local woman-hater Flamepaw/Nightheart reunited absolutely all of that characterization. You know Sparkpelt? That mother who wanted to stay in her clan not to stay loyal, but to not abandon her children? The mother who struggled with depression for about a month due to her husband literally dying as her children were born, but was there for everything her children could remember? Yeah, all of that was a lie, apparently. First of all, Flamepaw is pissed off that his mother gave him the Flame prefix, and there's a whole article on the Warriors website which talks about how, maybe if his father had survived, he would have given him a name he liked more. This is factually untrue! Larksong, his father, literally helped come up with that name! Then there's the implication that Sparkpelt didn't raise him, but rather, another nursery queen, Sorrelstripe, did. He had not even opened his eyes at this point, and there's no way anybody with common sense would think that their mother being unable to raise them during events they could not remember made her a horrible person. Then there's the implication that she left him when she was exiled, which makes no sense, because she did not get a choice, and he did, and his choice was to not follow her. Then the books themselves turn her into a plot device who gets to be upset over Nightheart being called Nightheart, as if she would do that when she herself struggled with being compared to Firestar, the real reason why Flamepaw hated that prefix and became Nightheart. She apologized for this, but the conflict wasn't even relevant to her characterization in the first place, and he got to get away with being an ass to her and every woman he knows.

Propaganda:

I love this cat so much. She had so much potential to be an amazing new major character even though she ultimately only got to be her protagonist brother's sister. Then she got to the era of her life where her characterization was ""good mom except she did struggle with depression super early on in her kits lives, but its okay because it's not really possible for them to remember"". And then her characterization became ""extremely neglectful mom"" for that one early on era. This series does not like women cats

#look how they massacred them poll #look how they massacred my girl #sparkpelt #warrior cats

[pigeonleap]

asc sky spoilers in the drawing and under it (no cut so just beware)

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“We’re Only Here To Help”... exactly how i imagined this scene, done on trackpad, in ten minutes, so i had a spacer for this text post NO JOKE LMAO

i read sky because im sick af and it was so... crazy

i stay loving frostpaw but i think i might have to give up sunbeam. the only way she can be redeemed is by thinking nightheart is really annoying and rejecting his marriage proposal (SHE WILL NOT DO THIS) 

Nightheart. why is his solution to a hateful world - that would not have been hateful were it not set up for plot convenience, by the way, who in ThunderClan has ever mentioned firestar that much? I would appreciate it as truth more if Sparkpelt had been treated that way because of HER resemblance to Firestar... but she wasn’t so it kind of just looks like they’re latching onto this guy for absolutely no reason and he’s like EVERYONE TREATS ME LIKE SHIT while squirrelflight is just treating him like the whiny baby he really is. don’t get me started on how everyone who makes comments to him is also related to firestar #Incest

Sunbeam. i like her arguments with her xenophobic mother. i imagine her as a really cute kitty. i like having a shadowclan pov because i love shadowclan. that’s kind of it

FROSTPAW. so good. Her grief over her mother and fidgetflake’s passing comment that WindClan found bones on the moor and it could have been a purposeful dog attack. SPLASHTAIL and his repeated SUSPICIOUS attempts to get close with frostpaw (I think the relationship thing is strange also? because she was introduced as a new apprentice early in book 1 and i think that was either retconned or they just don’t care because now her siblings are old enough to have already been promoted to warriors - is Frostpaw now an older medicine cat apprentice, because their apprenticeships ARE longer! idk how fast time is passing but that’s how I read it). Poor little baby having to balance the whole clan’s FAITH on her shoulders while Mothwing (i lovewing mothwing) does everything else... It’s such a compelling story I know they’ll fuck it up somehow but god i want to know more

Tigerstar denying his desires to take over riverclan and then being like Surrender and let us take charge or we will actually just kill you? ok why did the erins forget that he used to be a heartthrob smooth guy with a little bit of temper and a little bit of cunning tigerheart did he become a leader and a dad and become a terrible horrible person. WHAT DOES DOVEWING THINK. i love you dovewing and squirrelflight hang in there you did not have to marry these Men

#asc sky #asc sky spoilers #warrior cats #warriors #erin hunter #tigerstar #frostpaw #nightheart #sunbeam #riverclan #shadowclan #pigeonleap

[thornquillthefiendish]

oohh how bout,,

ashfur for the opinion thing?

We’re starting with a b i g one for me. Since you like this dood (which is perfectly fine!) I wanna be nicer than I usually am about him as to not seem like a huge dickhead- (sorry if I still do I’m just another dumbass on the internet man)

Sexuality headcanon

bisexual

Gender/pronouns headcanon

Cis male he/him/they

Rate them out of ten

God that’s hard. On a writing standard 7/10 he’s probably one of the most consistently written characters in the books. Based on how much I like him (not as a villain just in general) 2/10

Favorite thing about them

Best villain in the series hands down. I’m sorry nobody else comes close in what ashfur makes me feel when he’s on screen/in the pages and it’s this intense unease and distaste that comes from his actions and character and not poor writing which. I’m not sure how they did it??? He’s a great villain and genuinely intimidating later on. I’m constantly brought back to thinking about him while rewriting because of how interesting he is, how honestly? Good he is as an antagonist. Like, I show off my hawkfrost love a lot, but I think he is overshadowed by hawkfrost when they’re out side by side. Hawk did some shit — but, ashfur was harboring the manipulative tactics to make all of the clans run amok trying to figure something out. Let’s be honest, ashfur was the better antagonist of the two.

Least favorite thing about him

I’m sorry it’s the whole guy he’s not a good guy he’s. He’s too foul. Ashfur is a character who if he were a protagonist you wouldn’t like being in his shoes, but you cannot lie and say it wasn’t interesting or pulling to be there.

Why I first started liking/disliking them

Ohhhh boy. Ok so. To keep this kind of short, I used to be a really big ashfur fan, but it stopped around 14 and around 15-16, I was getting back into the books and kinda having wisened up a little rereading ashfur was. Idk it was unnerving especially after being able to clearly look at my own experiences. I think it definitely hits different because I was really interested in ashfur when I was younger, now I feel like slight tinges of annoyance when thinking of him — clarity wise this is just me, he’s a cat in a fictional series of books and I definitely get why people still like him! It’s just this weird case of — I don’t hold any sympathy for his character nor any like, I think he’s interesting and I try to detach my own biases while working on rewrite stuff with him, but tbh? A double death well deserved.

Do I relate/project onto/kin them?

Nope.

Favorite quote/moment

The utterly terrifying moment where he drags squirrelflight to fucking hell what the fuck

My fav ship

Hawkash

My fav platonic friendship

I can’t see him with many friends tbh…idk, maybe Cloudtail, but he is his brother-

A ship I hate

Legit hate? Ashsquirrel it freaks me out

Funny hate? Hawkash I’ve got a love hate relationship with it for reasons previously stated (hawkfrost deserves a better boyfriend, but he has shit taste in men)

Do I prefer canon or fanon?

Tbh, canon? I guess when compared to most fandom rep that is. Personally I’ve never really loved emo ashfur. I’ve made him up in my head (so I guess my version of fanon) to be vindictive of course, but a lot more adept in planning a course of action while also remaining solidly unhinged. I kinda like the idea that he was kind of a well regarded warrior at the time, I like the idea that he was notably muscular - I like how on the surface he might’ve been nice, but underneath it all he was dangerous it was just nobody ever considered he could do harm because he’s ashfur, of course he couldn’t, we know ashfur. I like how up front you can see signs of how this can go wrong, but you ignore it for whatever reason, and then it does go wrong. Makes him a bit more real as an antagonist.

Random headcanon

Ashfur has a control problem, largely the reason he can’t let squirrelflight go. He doesn’t want to give her up, he doesn’t want to lose - he cannot lose, he won’t let himself.

What color do I picture them as?

Desaturated, muddy blue

Cat breed headcanon

Oriental likely? I’m not fully sure — likely a breed with a really defined face

Unpopular opinion

Likely that ashfurs the best written villain, but also. Out of all of them the most pathetic, but? Most intimidating. Because he got more done than half of our villains because of an obsessive fixation over his ex. Tigerstar should be rolling in his grave.

Things I associate with them

Leeches, every sad love song/breakup song at one point has reminded me of him, Dennis from always sunny (they are. The same person), there’s a lot of different poetic esc imagery that makes me think of him, but if I had to think of something really poetic and jazz I’d say the story of Apollo and Daphne, whom Apollo, by Eros was struck with such an insatiable desire for while in turn, Daphne had grown disgusted with romance. He’d chase her until Daphne, too tired, pleaded for her father to help her, and thus he turned her into a laurel tree. Even in this form, though, Apollo never halted, decorating himself in laurels and proclaiming them his icon.

Song I associate with them

Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria. I actually have a smol playlist for him that helps when I’m writing for him.

Favorite MAP/PMV/AMV with them

The Rory map (the part where he’s screaming is perfect)

#warrior cats #wc #ashfur #the cat ever

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Some More Naming Headcanons But This Time With Characters

so this was going to be something I added to characters

but then I realized I didn't have a lot of these

so I just wanted to do ones via main characters - both of super editions and the main arc. No novella ones [rn].

I may also throw in some of my favorite side characters.

This is purely based off of either what their kits are canonically named and if they canonically named them. Meaning Leafpool and Squirrelflight aren't signs of what Firestar would named his kits since it's shown in canon that Sandstorm named them.

Now that I've rambled far enough-

//headcanon time//

Starting off with main series;

Firestar strikes me as someone who would name kits after friends / family. He would've used Lion- for Lionheart or Whisker- for Onewhisker. If it had been at all possible to have a gray kit, he would've named them Blue- after Bluestar.

Maybe even a Smudgekit.

I also imagine he likes more fun and unusual names when he's not naming kits after friends. I feel like he really liked when Sandstorm used Squirrel- and Leaf- because those were names he didn't even know could be used.

He'd be the type to try to plan out names ahead of time without ever knowing what his kits looked like.

.

Though not a main character, I do wanna bring up Sandstorm, whom is very much for 'honorary' naming aka 'in honor of' and Leafkit/pool had been named after both Spottedleaf and Leafstar, as both cats were important in her life.

She's usually not for unusual names, but I can see her going with Squirrelkit - one because of her daughter's dark ginger fur and lots of fluff, and two because I headcanon while she was pregnant [though, only in canon as I personally headcanon her as a trans molly], Firestar would ramble on and on with so many names.

However, she's the type to wait and when her daughters were born, she took one look at Squirrelkit and knew the best fitting name that she was sure her mate would like.

.

Next in the main series, Brambleclaw/star.

Though harder for me to think of, I do think he likes those stronger names. Names that stand out but in a strong way. I imagine he personally picked the names of Alderkit/heart and Juniperkit. He also approved of Lionkit/blaze's name.

He's a last minute namer and would be put on the spot like 'oh, shit, well the kids are here now.. they need to be called something.'

.

Squirrelflight, on the other paw, is a bit of the opposite. She loves names that stand out just because of how nice they sound. Usually plants, but she also really wanted to name Sparkkit after Firestar without naming her Firekit.

Like Firestar, she preplans the possible names and hyperfocuses on her favorites.

She was the one who originally suggested Juniperkit during her first moon of pregnancy and Bramblestar completely forgot that she had come up with that name until the kits were already born.

.

Leafpool is very drawn to animal - specifically bird - names.

She was originally going to have two kits named after birds and Lionkit there to break up the pattern - named after the warrior she and Squirrelflight heard stories of when they were still kits.

When it came to naming, she had a vague idea of what names she liked and waited for the kits to be born to make her final choice.

.

Tawnypelt is another 'honorary' namer

Whether she'd admit it or not, Flametail had been named after Firestar, and more obviously Tigerheart/Tigerstar 2 had been named after Tigerclaw/Tigerstar 1

Both toms had made an impact on her life and she chose those names for that reason.

Dawnpelt was the only one not named by her, as she was named by her father, Rowanclaw.

.

Jayfeather is a hard one, as I can't see him being a father. He wouldn't be neglectful, no, but to me he doesn't seem like the type to want to have kits.

He'd be a last minute namer, for sure, and would give the kits names based off the first thing that comes to mind - after having the kits described to him, of course.

He'd avoid names that he associates with The Ancients, as he himself hated the idea of possibly having the name Jaywing.

But that's all I really have for him.

.

Hollyleaf isn't the type to personally name her kits. On top of being another one who doesn't want to be a parent, she also seems like the type that'd ask for help if she did have kits.

Or she'd let the other parent name them.

I can imagine she'd want at least one named Fox- or Fallen- after the fox kit she raised or Fallen Leaves respectively, but that's about it.

.

Lionblaze isn't an honor namer, though I imagine his first litter with Cinderheart hit at a emotional time for the tom. It's what inspired him and Cinderheart to name Hollytuft, Fernsong, and Sorrelstripe after Hollyleaf, Ferncloud, and Sorreltail.

For Lionblaze that was his sister and one of his cartakers

And for Cinderheart, her own mother.

It meant a lot to them.

For their second litter, their naming styles started to stand out. Lionblaze definitely chose Snapkit/tooth's name. I imagine he also had some sway on Spotfur's name cause I like to think this giant himbo looked down at his daughter and just said "spot"

Flykit/whisker was Cinderheart's name choice, though I imagine she liked Spot. I picture her liking nice, simple names that have a nice ring to them.

.

When it comes to naming, Ivypool isn't the best at it. She has a lot of "first draft" name ideas that don't really stick, but having Fernsong, who was preplanning names for kits from before he even had a mate helped the two come to an agreement.

She'd spitball ideas she liked and he'd help the names go in a nice direction that stood out and sounded good.

Flipclaw is one of the few whose name didn't change a thousand times before the two came to an agreement.

Bristlefrost and Thriftear almost had very different names and Fernsong helped avoid their daughters being named Bushykit and Smokekit.

.

Dovewing likes symbolic names.

Shadowkit and Lightkit are signs of this, since the two were meant to symbolize the difference between her and Tigerheart.

Pouncekit stumps me personally, especially since she had full control of the naming here. Part of me imagines she looked at her kits, looked at Pouncekit, and named her that because she had a feeling it would be a name Tigerheart would come up with.

That while liking action names, though only to a degree.

.

Alderheart would've been a lot like his grandfather, choosing names of those important to him. He would've had a kit named Sandkit after his grandmother and, had Violetshine not beat him to it, a kit named Needlekit after Needletail.

He's very sentimental like that.

After that, I can see him going for names that personally spark joy to him. Names that bring positive emotions like Sun/Sunny-, Hope-, etc.

.

Sparkpelt holds her legacy high and that shows in the names she gave her kits. Flamekit and Flickerkit were both named after Firestar, much like she was - or at least, I'm going to say that because the main part is Flamekit trying to live up to Firestar's legacy so him knowing he was specifically named after Firestar would fit the narrative.

She's also willing to compromise in places. Like I imagine how Larksong suggest the name Finchkit for their daughter and she liked the ring it had - and gave all three of their kits a theme of having names that started with F.

.

I'm putting Violetshine and Twigbranch together because, honestly, I can see them being similar with naming.

Violetshine and Tree both went with names that reminded them of important cats they cared about and I can't imagine Twigbranch being too different.

Though while Violet and Tree went for cats they knew, Twig would've named one Pebblekit after her late mother, despite barely knowing it.

.

//Super Edition Time//

This one was a bit harder, but for Bluestar, I see her going for names that remind her of whoever her mate is.

After all, she chose Stone-, Moss-, and Misty- because they reminded her of Oakheart in canon. And because she knew she wanted them to be able to fit into RiverClan with their names.

And of course, this would change depending on who she's with

In BlueRose AUs, I can see her wanting many flower/plant themed names.

Or for YellowBlue, her choosing names that remind her of herbs / ShadowClan.

It's all very "it depends" with her.

.

Crookedstar isn't the best at naming and for him I can picture him choosing names that spark happy or simple memories or names associated with those he loved.

Idr if he helped name any of his kits with Willowbreeze and the Wikia does not help at all

But I imagine he had some say

And definitely he had insisted on naming Willowkit after Willowbreeze, who had brought him so much joy in his life.

.

When naming kits, Yellowfang is more emotionally driven than your average cat. She names her kits after what she's feeling and that's where the name of both her daughters and her son came from.

Wishkit had been given her name through grief, Yellowfang wishing her daughter had been given a chance.

Hopekit's name had been given in vain as she watched her daughter struggle to hang onto life. The name did not give the kit the strength she needed to keep fighting, sadly.

Brokenkit was named after Yellowfang's broken heart as she buried her daughters and had to separate herself from him mere moments after he was born.

.

I know Tallstar never had kits, but I always imagined if he had found the right tom - maybe Jake, maybe not - and the two found some sort of surrogate, he'd work hard on being a much better father than Sandgorse had been to him.

When it comes to naming, I can see him going with names that are personally important - either because it reminds him of someone he cares about or that it was something that impacted him a lot.

He wouldn't name kits after his terrible father or the tom he had blamed for his father's death, of course.

Though I can see him going for something like Earth- [after his time as a tunneler], Bird- [after his mother, Palebird, and sister, Finchkit], etc.

.

Maybe it was a good thing Hawkwing never had the chance to name his daughters, as I can't see him as being the best namer.

No he would never go with insulting names, he's too loving for that, but his names would be quite odd. He'd go with the first thing that came to mind with little to no hesitation without allowing a second opinion to come in.

If he did spend time thinking about it, he'd probably name at least one after Duskpaw, but if he was just allowed to go off, he'd spend no time at all naming, as he'd see that as not as important as being with his daughters.

.

Tigerheart / Tigerstar 2 was another hard one for me. He had no say in the naming of his kits but I do have my own headcanons still, even if they're not as strong.

I imagine he likes action names like Pounce- and Strike- [he very much favored his nephew Strikestone] and strong names like Claw-, Oak-, and yes, even Tiger-

Would he have tried to start a long line of Tiger-'s?

Probably.

.

One that took a moment of thought was Crowfeather. He wasn't hard, but it did cause a pause.

His names would be both circumstantial - I headcanon that he and Nightcloud named Breezepelt to kind of show WindClan 'see how loyal we are? we named our son Breeze' - and tying to both Feathertail and Leafpool.

He'd try to go for forest-sounding names or feathery bird names

But this would likely change depending on relationships. Cause I can see other AUs having different names he'd be drawn to.

.

Graystripe, honestly, stumps me. While in my heart of hearts, I picture him as a speed-namer, there does come Stormkit and Featherkit. The exceptions to this headcanon.

He and Silverstream had talked about possible names ahead of time and he had a promise he intended to keep - naming at least one Stormkit after her father.

He thought that was silly at the time until the kits were born.

It was the only time he refused to go with his own names. He kept his promise for Stormkit and when he saw Featherkit, instead of naming her Silverkit like he wanted, he recalled how much Silverstream had loved the name Feather-

So he went with that name for her.

.

Leopardstar, while never being a mother, I have a lot of strong headcanons for.

If she ever had kits, I fully believe she would go for strong and important-sounding names. She'd also be willing to bring back personality names, which had died off some time ago.

She'd name one kit Bravekit and another Shiningkit just so they'd stand out and be the most important cats in the Clans

only according to herself, of course

.

I didn't include The Broken Code characters, cause I'm still not 100% sure and I'm not looking forward to if BristleRoot truly becomes end game canon and they have kits..

#headcanons #firestar #sandstorm #bramblestar #squirrelflight #leafpool #tawnypelt #jayfeather #lionblaze #hollyleaf #dovewing #ivypool #alderheart #violetshine #twigbranch #bluestar #crookedstar #yellowfang #tallstar #hawkwing #tigerheart #tigerstar II #crowfeather #graystripe #leopardstar #warriors #warrior cats

[gnfkitten]

my favorite part of warrior cats is the grotesque story of squirrelflight, ashfur, and the extended cast of cats that sound like they came out of an ajj song

this gal named squirrelflight flirts with a guy named ashfur a few times. typical 80s romance song. its quick, its fleeting. squirrelflight gets together with brambleclaw. its all real lovely. brambleclaw gets promoted to leader after squirrelflights dad goes into retirement and makes his deputy the chief. brambleclaw is now bramblestar

(before the promotion and after the marriage, brambleclaw leads the entire 4 clans to a new territory. not relevant. he also stabs his brother in the neck with a tent stake)

and then squirrelflights sister leafpool, who is a medicine cat and sworn into celibacy, has sex with a guy from windclan named crowfeather. this is something all the cats are sworn not to do. double illegal.

crowfeather is a bit of a whore because he was previously in love with another girl who went on a magical journey with him when he was a child. (brambleclaw was there for that too. brambleclaw is eternal and everywhere) the girl crowfeather was in love with got impaled by a falling stalagmite while protecting a tribe of savage feral cats with names very similar to english translations of a few native american names i know. interesting. racist? there was a mountain lion involved

yeah so they have sex and leafpool gets pregnant. but since she did two crimes in one she gives the kids to squirrelflight and pretends they belong to her and brambelstar. theres an uncomfortable birthing scene because the kids decided to emerge from her cat uterus in the middle of a snowstorm. this is very telling of their characters after birth

theres three kids. jayfeather lionblaze and hollyleaf. jayfeather is very angry. lionblaze is angry but in a brave way. hollyleaf loves rules. they are a legendary trio

theres a thing about superpowers, and a prophecy or something. jay is sickly and blind and can see peoples thoughts. lionblaze never loses any fights, ever, and he maims ashfur a little while theyre trianing. hollyleaf doesnt have any powers, but she is absolutely obsessed with the warrior code and gets caught up with a guy named sol who says the world is gonna end. none of this is relevant except the "bootlicker hollyleaf" thing

ashfur is stewing. ashfur has been stewing for years now. long enough that they literally brought all 4 clans across the continent to a new territory kind of stewing. hes lonely. he misses the girl he was madly in love with, and shes married to the coolest guy in town. hes in agony. (over in windclan, crowfeather has a new girlfriend. manwhoring as long as he lives)

theres a big fire. thunderclans entire territory sets on fire. everyone is escaping, except for squirrelflight and her three kids. jayfeather, lionblaze, and hollyleaf, who is contemplating becoming an antivaxxer or something

imagine this: a clearing on the edge of a pit. the pit is where the cats live. everything is on fire around this clearing. there is one log running across the clearing, and squirreflight and her fake kids are going along it to escape. theyre the last out

ashfur appears he stands at the other end of the log. hes pissed. hes crying. he hates squirrelflight. he hates her so much. his rage is all consuming, like the fire that burns around them. he says he wants her in as much pain as possible, and he knows how: taking the only thing she loves in this world. her 3 kids

we all know something ashfur doesnt. the kids arent hers. squirrelflight, though non an omnipresence, is gifted with this knowledge herself.. she sees ashfurs twisted evil mind and tells him, flat out that they arent hers. she doesnt love them. he can kill them, they mean nothing to her. they are, after all, just her sister leafpool's. why would she care for them?

ashfur is stunned. he gives up. he leaves. squirrelflight and her three kids leave. its a bit awkward. imagine the thanksgiving dinner table after a particularly bad argument. thats all this is really

anyways. hollyleaf is broken from this. shes the daughter of a medicine cat and a manwhore from a clan that only eats rabbits. she cant take it. much like ashfur, she snaps

there are these big clan meetings, once every month. everyone goes, except the old people and the dying people and the kids who just want juiceboxes and lunchables. thunderclan is heading out to the Meeting Island. they find a body in the river. surprise! its ashfur

they go on to the gathering despite finding the body of one of their finest, most mentally haunted warriors polluting the stream with the blood seeping out of his slit throat. the three kids are there. squirrelflight is there. leafpool is there. bramblestar is there

this story has very weird heathers energy to me. its there, but it isnt coherant. like a bad remix of 100 gecs, sort of. this part is no exception

hollyleaf runs up to the big tree the clan leaders stand on and monologue. shes not allowed to do this. perhaps the sense that she lost her identity with her illigitimate birth turned into something real, that the warrior code didnt matter anymore. perhaps she was just tired of being kind; she wanted to go apeshit

she confesses. to two things. number one - the muderder of ashfur. how tragic. number two - leafpool. leafpools affar with crowfeather. squirrelflights lies to her for her entire life. theres chaos. thunderclan is like stan twitter after a minecraft youtuber said something racist 8 years ago. the 3 other clans are trying desperately to get in on this drama. the hot tea of the hour if you will

hollyleaf says her share. she runs away. lionblaze and jayfeather chase after her all the way back to the thunderclan territory. she yells at them. she runs into a tunnel and gets crushed by rocks. thats the end. shes dead.

jk jk that was a lie shes alive and shes living in a huge cave system with a ghost cat. remember the native american coded mountain tribe? yeah, they had ancestors. the ancestors lived at the territory the 4 clans moved to after squirelflight flirted with ashfur and before she got together with bramblestar. they used to drown little kids in the tunnels. jayfeather is the entire reason why the ancestors moved to the mountains and became the racist mountain tribe. i wont explain the timeline of this, and i dont think i could if i tried

up above hollyleafs slowburn romance with a transparent cat, theres a new girl with superpowers. prophecy fulfilled yadda yadda. her sister is annoyed that she isnt #quirky and so she joins a fighting cult run by the cats in hell. i cannot stress this enough its literally every cat from the 50 some books before this who went to hell. they have an army of children. theyre training them. the sister kills one of her classmates and becomes equals with the hell cats. my second favorite plotline in the series

the hell cats come to the land of the living. the sister betrays them. theres a big battle, and its supposed to be the end of the series but you know theyre gonna continue it for at least 20 more books. (they did). hollyleaf appears, and i dont think its ever explained how or why. but shes back, and she joins the battle. everyones too busy with the literal hell cats to care much about some kid with a body count of 1 appearing randomly

hollyleaf fights a bit. she gets mauled to death. thats the end. its just over. she dies and she doesnt come back. rip to a queen

i think my biggest question besides why would someone create this ad continue to do so for fifty plus books, is how the fuck brambleclaw stabbed his brother with a tent stake when he literally doesn’t even have hands. what.

#hollyleaf was a queen gone too soon #thank you for telling the plot of all fifty books i can finally know #warrior cats spoilers #maybe? #would anyone who follows me actually have that tagged? #long post

[arcanyah]

ALITM spoilers

———

24 hours post sobbing about Bristlefrost’s death, as sad as it makes me ESPECIALLY because she’s totally erased forever, I have to admit that I’m pleasantly surprised that the Erins made that move. We’ve never had a POV protagonist die during their series (yes Feathertail was a protagonist but she was never one we got POV for, so she doesn’t count), let ALONE get their POV as they’re dying. Honestly I can’t remember if we’ve ever been in a character’s POV as they die in the main series. Yes in super editions and novellas but never in the main series.

In a way I’m glad we didn’t have to watch Bristlefrost become a boring background mommy like most female protags in the series; she got to die as she lived: being a girlboss. That said, I would still be happy for them, and would’ve loved to see them have a family.

I don’t understand the hate for Bristleroot. People say her love for Rootspring diminished her character but I don’t think so at all. She’s literally introduced to us being a hopeless romantic, and I feel like she and Root had way more development than most couples in Warriors, including relationships between main characters. For example, they had much more relationship development than Leafpool and Crowfeather - and were much more mature about it!!! They both put a lot of thought into it and despite loving each other they decided not to pursue it because neither wanted to leave their clans. It wasn’t until the last book that after almost losing her so many times, Rootspring realized that he would put her above anything, even his clan. And the bit about how “you only love one cat” was really moving and really hit home for me, because I’m currently in the process of moving to another country to be with the one I love. Unlike Leafpool and Crowfeather, Rootspring and Bristlefrost realized that leaving your family, your friends, your entire way of life, to pursue your love isn’t something to be taken lightly. So I feel like the fact that Rootspring decides that he’d be willing to give all that up says a lot about his character. I’d say that at least 75% of Warriors couples wouldn’t do that for each other. Many of them only get together to have kits, and don’t stay close.

Another thing - people saying the age difference is icky?? Oh my god. One of the most notable relationships in Warriors is Dustpelt and Ferncloud. He was a full grown warrior hitting on her as an apprentice, and even worse, SHE WAS HIS NEICE!! So I don’t want to hear about it. Plus, guess what? Brambleclaw and Ashfur were both already warriors before Squirrelflight was born. Thornclaw was already a senior warrior, one of the oldest in the clan, before Blossomfall was even born. Many couples are between cats who developed crushes when one was a paw and one was already a warrior. This is how the Warriors universe works people. Get over it. Newsflash: Things are different for cats than they are for people. And they didn’t even confess until they were both warriors chill tf out

Anyway yeah that’s my hot take, idgaf if you disagree with me you can ship whatever you want, but don’t hate on other peoples ships, especially if the reasons to hate it you’re bringing up don’t even make sense. Also bear in mind these are books about CATS written for tween girls so can we just let each other enjoy things without tagging hate. These may be written for tweens but you don’t have to behave like one

#roddy talks #warrior cats #warriors #Bristlefrost #rootspring #Bristleroot

[goatpaste]

WC design/headcannon/ect masterlist- Part B

another chunk of all the headcanos/AU’s/design notes/warrior names for kits and leaders never given a canon one/ect for all the wario cats!

this one is for all the B named cats!

info under the cut

Badgerfang

badgerfang i think a lot of us have a big ol soft spot for, but ought i really care him and his family i think it needs more than jusT the badgerfang death like for real

one of the biggest reasons i wanna learn to animate is because i wanna make a badgerfang and flintfang amv! it would be sdkg more about flintfang because i think he’s a neat character who has a lot of potential for development 

like mAN you ever stop and think about not only was flintfang sad over badgerfangs death because it was sad, bUT also because badgerfang was his sisters kit AND to the thought of blackstar is flintfangs brother. flintfang had to deal with playing a hand in badgerfangs death then watch his brother loyally follow brokenstar, then tigerstar 🥺

Baypaw

baypaw was the first of his lil chunk of family i design, i didnt have a sorrelstripe design made yet so i ultimately decided to base his design on his grandpa Lionblaze. smaller fluffy lionblaze.

I know we should be coming up to baypaw getting their warrior name soon

i think a name like Baysong or Baygale

Beech Tail

the only thing i have  to say is dgjksh when i designed the ‘beech’ prefix designs it was late and i totally went ‘beech... the beach’ and noT beech the tree sdjkgh. so i designed beech tail like that of a penguin sdjkgh

Beechfur

beechfur , riverclan warrior under mistystar’s leadership

i imagine beechfur is be EXTREMely accident prone, from the first instant of getting sick and healed by leafpool all the way up till the end. He is in and out of the medicine cats den constantly. and through this formed a big ol crush on the pretty medicine cat apprentice Willowshine who has had to full on decline his feelings. he is not the only one who has had this treatment, many a riverclan cats have found themself charmed by willowshine

Beechpaw

Beechpaw, a apprentice of ancient skyclan who were forced to leave the forest territory.  i imagine beechpaw was of the few cats who did everything he could to keep the others in good spirit while they tried to find their home, which often came to the annoyance of all his distraught clanmates. he never stopped doing all he could to put a smile on their face until he died.

he was the last apprentice cloudstar named a warrior and only lived a few moons after becoming one.

warrior names i like for him are like Beechshed or Beechshine

Beenose

slight update to my beenose design because i want her to fit my newer darktail group clown aesthetic 

another design note is her and her siblings all are themed after a diff color of the rainbow, beenose is yellow. their mom snowbird has a pale rainbow pattern and each other her kits is a diff color of the rainbow

Beetlewhisker

Beetlewhisker is another one of my quiet favorites i have, and it is because of the error of him being alive for SO many books after he died.

like !!! bitch had a HUGE major death and went on to live for a long time aND be listed as a cats mentor (which i think that has been changed now)

i love the idea of in a way beetlewhisker WAS with the clans that long after his death. that due to his death was in a way locked in the dark forest, his soul stuck there. but because of the ways of the dark forest cat’s he was chased out, and unable to enter starclan having died in the dark forest, now cursed to live in limbo.

He walks to the grounds of riverclan watching over his clanmates while they rest hoping that no one else is to be preyed upon by the dark forest like he was ever again. 

theres ghost stories of riverclan cats seeing the shape of a cat shining brightly when hit by moonlight. a peaceful spirit of the past who protects them.

and in design 100% his design was made to look like that of a smeleton bones lol

Bellaleaf

the erin team will have to pry bellaleaf and firestar being siblings from my cold dead hands!!

you can’t say they look basically exactly alike and their not related i wont take it sdjkg. i DIE for the idea oh whore jake managing to have so many kids that get into the clans. like the over saturation of jake dna through the clans ruining them absolutely kills me sdjkg

i also imagine ravenpaw having like deja vu of firestar when he looks at bella, cats who knew firestar look at her and can’t help feel she reminds them of someone. 

Berryheart

another one of the designfor snowbirds kits, berryheart is the red themed sibling.

she also got a slight design change to be more clowny to fit her time in darktail’s group

Berrynose

i just love berrynose, i think hes very terrible and i love him a lot

i think the books are cowards and i think berrystar woulda been the fUNniest outcome oR like

imagine the powermove if berrynose lived and squirrelflight fucking made berrynose her deputy likE

also berrynose is a lil gay brat, he has a thick country accent and everyone find him weirdly charming. many hate him but cant help but find him alluring. 

he actually is a very good warrior, he stays on top of his task and brings in the prey. his biggest problem is his ego and his need to get in others faces all the time

i love when he’s paired with lionblaze because their stupid rivarly is so good i really wish it was more plot important and lasted longer i LIVE for best friend rivals lion and berry

buT i also love him with jayfeather for the simple dynamic of the one cat who would probably hate him more than anyone else but oops he’s in love to

or him and breezepelt because they could be lil shitheads togeather

Birchface

the biggest thing i can say about birchface is 100% birchface watched over mapleshade’s kits, doesnt let appledusk or his own family hurt them. He treats them like his own.

in AU’s where birchface lives i defiantly can see him having a HUGE crush on mapleshade and being much like thrushpelt was to bluefur. being as a surrogate dad for her kits and keeping the secret.

in my main AU with mapleshade dieing and getting a redemption its mostly the same except they become a sweet happy family together in starclan.

he’s a big goofy dad type and his father had hoped he would become leader one day, but worried that he was too lax with the code and not as driven to fight as others and began to think he would have to rely on frecklewish instead. then they both died and he ended up turning to his youngest son pinefur

Blade

this is just a one time ghost cat buT  i like the design i made for her.

im all here for dark forest cats having this black oozing mark from where they died, starclan gets being covered in stardust and maybe having from pretty plats or glow or other representative stuff on their death. but ghost cats are loUD with their mark of death. its a nagging weight they carry around based on their inability to move on to their respective afterlives. For blade its giant bright red tire marks that slowly circle around her body.

Blazefire

just a lil boy

i imagine he kinda constantly has crushes on cats from other clans which while some might tell him to hush when he shares his thoughts on the pretty cat from riverclan he gets some loving teasing from dovewing and antfur

Blazefire is also miss nearly all of his tail

Blizzardstar and Blizzardwing

not much here but to say 100% i designed blizzardwing in mind of being that of a grandson or great grandson to blizzardstar

Blossomfall

shrug idk a lot to say about her beyond, i know she’s a asshole character but i remember liking her, i think she’s mean but its kinda fun in a way

i think i also just have this soft spot for millies kits because their millie’s

also i just like my blossomfall design i think she’s v fun

Blossomkit

another shadowclan kit who died under brokenstar’s ruling.

i think as sad as it is, i can imagine blossomkit to be badgerfang’s sister, just another sad thing to think about for fernshade’s litter. the potential idea of all her kit’s dying because of brokenstar

a warrior name for her that would been cute woulda been like Blossomglaze or blossomsprout

Bluebellkit

bluebellkit sure disappeared from the books. she’s one of those kits that like, she already had a mouth full of a name and i wish i coulda seen what they woulda named her as a warrior

but she’s another one of snowbird’s rainbow themed kids, her ofc being the blue one.

i think a cute warrior name for her could been Bluebellwhistle or bluebellfoot

Blouder

i lobe boulder i think he is very under appreciated!! 

i think it be very fun to get a novella or something in this POV,,

he’s just hangin out back there yknow,,,

Bouncefire

(bit of an art change from here as i took a break between these two and switched programs)

idk a lot about actual bouncefire, i think the only books with any real characterization in it was ones i havent read

buT id really like to imagine growing up he saw his mentor patchfoot as a father figure and was ultimately the reason patchfoot and his mom got together. and bouncefire being absolutely ecstatic about it. thinking patchfoot is the coolest guy

bouncefire gets along good with his half siblings

gay cat and wanna be emo but just is kinda angy

Brackenfur

my biggest brackenfur AU is my medicat brackenfur which i have info of here

https://goatpaste.tumblr.com/post/631020627780911104/au-where-insteed-of-fireheart-picking-up

and

https://goatpaste.tumblr.com/post/632972589046890496/mmm-writing-out-like-big-plot-point-changes-in-my

the other thing vaguely mention in these but would probably be more prominent in his og story

but brackenfur is quietly the biggest mess in the family. Being on pare with confidence and energy as cinderpelt when they were young, after her accident somethin changed for him. he loved his sister but is a big distant. but its hardly noticeable between the two as they worked very separate jobs in the clan

then his other sister, brightpaw has her accident and brackenfur begins to question something

but when he his the last to leave in the thunderclan group to their new home he stops and looks back at his mother frostfur who is old and frail look, though she wasnt young the damage of the forest hit her hard. 

this when brackenfur decides starclan has it out for his family, especially the mollies. they were cursed he was sure.

moons later he is expecting his kits with sorreltail, letting his mind rest on the idea, the crazy notion that some greater force wanted the she-cats in his family dead. 

then the day his kits arrive cinderpelt dies to the badgers. he pushes down these feelings down again it was the time. But he couldn’t help but think that, if leafpool was there, if starclan had given them a sign of the badgers, anything. maybe cinderpelt might have lived. but he pushes it back down and tells himself it was a warriors death

and then his daughter, cinderpaw is struck by the tree and the stirring in his mind grows stronger. why has starclan done this to his family

then honeyfern gets bit by the snake. how could starclan be so cruel, their always so young.

then his sweet sorreltail fought strongly for her two young daughters future

and on his own, forced to watch seedpaw drown and lilypaw be haunted by what happened.

the women in brackenfurs family is cursed and he bears the burden of relizing it, of living and watching each of them suffer until the end

to the ones that lived and are happy still, with no burdens in their lives he watches happily making sure NOTHING bad comes their way. he would fight starclan themselves to make sure his family is safe and happy

Breezepelt

in design Breezepelt has a p average length tail. which for him is a huge disappointment. His father crowfeather has a long slender windclan tail, a trait that is held to high standards in his family. a trait passed all the way down from windstar herself who had the longest and most beautifully windy tail. 

Breezepelt has a angry spot about this because he feels lacking and especially disconnected to his father. BUT double this with jayfeather having only half windclan blood has a tail even longer than crowfeathers 

i also would NOT put breezepelt with heathertail, i dont see any reason for it. like first off this bitch gay, id love for him to have a boyfriend and it think it should be berrynose because one, their both terrible i think it be funny and i also think its funny to ship berrynose with lionblaze or jayfeather so im like, whats another brother (to be clear not shipped all together, this is separately) and two, the idea heathertail and poppyfrost lesbian could exist

then the big BIg thing is, i would take breezepelts character and gut what happened in crowfeathers trial out of both him and crowfeather

i talk about it a bit here, but i think ill re talk about it in full when i get to crowfeather https://goatpaste.tumblr.com/post/190544981670/breezepelt

Briarlight

miss briarlight i love you!!

very sweetgirl

i based her design off sakuras and bleed heart doves. idk what possessed me but when i went to design her i knEW she was gonna be pink she needed to be she deserved it

briarlight buff as shit in her forlegs she loves trying to rope leafpool and jayfeather into lil strength contest she always wins (sometimes she will let leafpool win on days she needs it) 

her and jayfeather are wlw/mlm best friends. jayfeather calls her pidge which started as a mean nickname that she simply loved and embraced fully

also in my AU with medicat lionblaze i can very much see briarlight and lionblaze being very sweet friends. like big strong lionblaze who is actually docile and compassionate about his work and briarlight loud and rooting him on

Brick

swear to god until i got back into warrior cats this year i had always thought brick was a lady and her and bone were suppous to be scourges like adoptive bad parents jkdg

anyways im still with that, she/her agender brick who adopts their terrible son scourge and is in a monogamous partnership with bone’s. strictly business defiantly not married, they just have a son together. 

Brindlewing

idk a ton about her, but from her wiki it dsjkgh doesnt look like theirs  alot

but i’d like to imagine she’s a very anxious girl and struggles in crowds especially around cat she doesn't know. she feels more comfortable when one of her sisters is with her or her grandmother nightcloud. Nightcloud has always been a source of self confidence for her and they love each very much.

Brindlewing also inherited crowfeather’s family long tail that skipped breezepelt. Brindlewing holds the tail in her mouth as a means of helping her anxiety.

Bristlefrost

a biG design overhaul for my bristlefrost design, i really didnt like the old design i made her. wanted her to be a lil darker colored and in general have a cuter design

i gave her diff color eyes to mark her double agent status one eye green like her fathers and the other sharing the same blue i use for ashfur’s eye color

i kept her with the one white paw which i give to any descendent of jake, just because canonically she is ivy and ferns kid.

but in my rewrite their not togeather. Fernsong was a kittypet or a loner who had lost their mate and home and was found by ivypool caring for his three kittens alone. this is more fernsong headcanon, but bristlefrost is there

bristle and all the kits love ivypool they look up to her big time and all wished she was their mentor when they became apprentices. 

bristlefrost often confides in her father when feeling guilty or unsure of herself and he is always there for her

Bristlekit

half brother to tallstar

i imagine woolytail’s family seems to have a high mortality rate with their kids with only one maybe two usually making it to adulthood. bristlekit would die before becoming an apprentice and spent time in starclan with finchkit and later rabbitkit waiting for wrenflight and tallstar.

if bristlekit made it to being a warrior id like to think he was named Bristlefeather or Bristlefoot

Brook where small fish swim

teeny update to my brook design to give her small white fish dots matching her brothers spots

her general design is mean to be loosely based on a mountain lion. 

she got strong powerful mountain climbing body

i also wish her romance was better developed and wasnt like based in a lot of white savior romance plots given to native and native coded characters

in general the tribe really shoulda just been written better

Brownpaw

brownpaw, brother to littlecloud killed mosspaw as a kit on accident and was apprenticed for it by brokenstar

i imagine him and his brother wetfoot killing mosspaw effect them both deeply. for wetfoot it shook him to the core and made his doubt his own claws

for brownpaw it set him down the path of destruction. brokenstar rewarding him for what happened with mosspaw was the biggest enabler

brownpaw would go on to be a blood thirsty apprentice who would throw his young life away under brokenstars order of attack.

had he been made a warrior i think brokenstar woulda named him Brownmoss claiming he had earned the name when he took it from mosspaw.

Bug

design for bug because i think the book she was in didnt exist when i originally started drawing every warrior cat

love her!

bumblestripe

bumblestripe’s character makes me sad

im SUCH a millie stan and for one of her kids to be disabled then treated like garbage to the end of her life and written super ablest and then her other two kids are total shit heads? makes me sad

i wish at lEAST millie and graystripe had a second little, maybe just one total sweetheart

and its been forever since i read the books. but i remember bumblestripe being a real nobody characters just very generic personality until romance plot for dovewing came into play. and now he super sucks!

i wish he coulda just been a good character who loved dovewing, is sad and kinda jealous of her feelings for tigerheart but in the end respects her decisions and even admires her courage to follow her heart even if it led her over the borders.

Buster/Rippletail

slight buster redesign to fit more in the circus clown look from when he was in the kin

also design note, he’s got an orange themed design to go along with his rainbow themed siblings

Buzzardkit

windclan kit who showed up once in the sight crying and being comforted by a queen

mm i think some good warrior names for them woulda been like

buzzardface, Buzzardshriek or buzzardwhistle

#warrior cats #wc headcanons #badgerfang #baypaw #beech tail #beechfur #beechpaw #beenose #beetlewhisker #bellaleaf #berryheart #birchface #blade #blazefire #blizzardstar #blizzardwing #blossomfall #blossomkit #bluebellkit #boulder #bouncefire #brackenfur #breezepelt #briarlight #brick #brindlewing #bristlefrost #bristlekit #brook where small fish swim #brownpaw

[malkumtend]

Meeting.

Crowfeather X Squirrelflight AU. (Belongs to @lonely-ghost-606)

Soooo after the angst ridden fireball that was “His Blood”, I couldn’t resist adding a follow up to it. So here we are, a direct sequel to that one shot (which I would highly recommend reading before this one).

So in case you’re unaware: this follows the AU of my friend @lonely-ghost-606​ where Crow and Squirrel fell in love during the great journey, only to separate after Squirrel couldn’t find the heart to leave Leafpool after she was injured in the badger attack. They met up once again and have seen each other for many nights since then. But now secrets have been revealed and blood has been spilled.

It’s time for Crowfeather to meet his kits, face to face.

...

He waited with his heart in his mouth. Windclan wouldn’t believe their eyes if they could see him so visibly worried, pacing back and forth, his fur on end; this wasn’t the reserved, silent cat that ran through Windclan, the one who didn’t look like he would even be able to spell the word ‘smile’.

But, then again, he had ran away like his life depended on it when Onestar announced what had happened at Thunderclan camp.

He knew that Nightcloud would understand. He knew she was scared as well.

She just wasn’t as...ugh...sensitive as he was about his mate’s safety.

He’d have to make an excuse up to Onestar later, but that was at the back of his mind for now. All that he could feel now was just the unknown fear and horror that surrounded Thunderclan’s cats. 

Then again, it wasn’t so much Thunderclan he was worried about. Only four cats.

The air around the border was cold and dark, only rippling on the hazing fear crawling across Crowfeather’s back. Inside his mind, burning, scorching destruction exploded, screaming possibilities that made his stomach churn and rise. He screwed his eyes shut, hissing to rake the images away, but they only rasped and boiled harder in the darkness.

He let out a low groan. He hadn’t felt this for moons, this fear and grief that he still didn’t entirely know was warranted, it had been on the first night he’d retraced his steps to this border that he’d had to suffer from that. But after, when hope and passion that he’d been stark off since he was young was finally returned to him, it all felt worth it.

But now, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever feel that again if what he feared came to spite him as true.

It wasn’t just that the one cat that he had ever been blessed to love could be dead. But, his children too. The children whose lives he’d been denied. The children where his sole moments of pride came from hearing about their growth from the mother able to share the lives that he had never seen.

Maybe would never see.

Again, Crowfeather wracked with soul crushing fear. His eyes searched through the darkness, along the unmarked tree trunks, and the thorns that mockingly lined the whispering mist. Anything for a sign. 

He wished he had the courage to race to Thunderclan camp and see for himself, confirm that he was truly terrified for no reason. But two things held him back: The knowledge that if he attempted it, he would only brew a maelstrom of anger and suspicion that could ruin so many lives. And the unimaginable dread that he could be right, and that so much of the quaint allowance of what he held precious could be gone.

Crowfeather didn’t have the heart for either.

He could only wait. It was one of their nights. And it was a night he hoped wouldn’t change everything he had longed for.

He had traced the line of the border so many times, and he would continue to do so until the sun rose if he needed to. He ignored the rain that rattled his fur and made him shiver under his light coat. In fact, he welcomed it. If the rain had put out the fire that he had heard was ravaging Thunderclan camp, he could maybe feel just a little easier. What a luxury. 

They had to be okay. He repeated that over and over again. They had to be. Thunderclan was many things, but their cats were well prepared. They must have found a safe area by now. And he knew she would never rest if she knew her, their, kits were in danger.

It felt strange for him to rely on such optimism. But she’d always had that effect on him. 

Almost as if rewarding his newfound hope, a new scent drifted along his whiskers. A scent he recognised.

His heart leapt, his eyes widening with astonishing reprieve. He actually smiled, true and bright, as he turned to where he knew she was approaching from. His mouth, wired by a mind too delirious with elation and affection he was too often denied, began to move before he could fathom what he was saying.

The glint of her emerald eyes made him blissfully hysterical.

“Thank Starclan, you’re okay! I was so worried! After Onestar told Windclan about the fire, I couldn’t just-”

More eyes blinked and burned in the shadows.

More scents lingered over his senses.

Crowfeather’s smile left him, bringing back the harsh line associated with himself.

She was at the front, not showing a twitch of the happiness that was meant to fill these nights. Her head was low, her tail dragged along the floor. Behind her, four sullen faces followed.

Crowfeather’s heart sank. He recognised them all.

One belonged to a tom that Crowfeather knew from his youth. A massive brown tom that looked so much smaller now than he size augmented. He also carried responsibilities Crowfeather felt he deserved more than any Windclan cat. 

Deputy and parent. Even though he wasn’t truly the latter.

Three he only saw on the rarest of occasions. He had never spoken to them, yet they were linked to him in ways that only the disapproving eyes of Starclan could see.

One as black as night, kept close to Bramblestar, unmissable hostility flashing in bright green eyes that were clearly reminiscent of her mother. Crowfeather gawked at how much she looked like him, from the wide shape of her ears to the short spikes of fur along her back.

Beside her, a light grey cat shimmered blue under the cool moonlight. His blue gaze sparkled, but was blankly angry, staring ahead but not seeing anything. He stood on refined legs and his body was sleek and streaming. Unmistakably Windclan by all accounts. If only he knew that.

And just behind Squirrelflight, a huge golden tom looked warily ahead at Crowfeather, his amber eyes glowing dimly, trembling. The thickness of his coat was clearly inherited from his mother, but now it looked flat and still, making him look so much weaker than he was.

Hollyleaf. Jayfeather. Lionblaze. 

Three cats. His kits. The cats he’d wanted to meet for so long.

From how they were looking at him, it seemed Crowfeather should have been careful what he wished for. 

His pelt prickled uncertainly, stiffening as he began to take in Squirrelflight's expression. He hated seeing her anything other than happy; now, she looked utterly heartbroken, for the both of them.

She dragged her gaze up to him, something revealing glinting inside them. The look of prey that had been caught. Crowfeather's head began to whirl.

They knew. All of them, even Brambleclaw...

Squirrelflight caught his realisation with a slow, dreading nod. She'd clearly been crying. She stopped a whisker away from him and Crowfeather could now see the raw emotions all around her.

For the first time, he could call himself their father and be recognised as it.

It suddenly felt like even the stars were burning their silver eyes on them.

"So this is the cat," Crowfeather broke away, turning to the icy voice that belonged to his daughter. She looked up and down slowly, seeming to grow more disgusted as she did so. "Doesn't look like much."

There was such bitterness in those few words that Crowfeather couldn't help but grimace.

"Hollyleaf." Lionblaze frowned, exhaustion draining the anger from his voice.

"What?" She demanded, lashing her tail.

"We're not here to start a fight." Jayfeather mewed, though his voice still carried a miserly unease. Lionblaze nodded, pointing his sister with a glare.

"I'm not the one who started it!" Hollyleaf growled, sending a much more venomous glare to her true parents.

Crowfeather couldn’t stop a snarl becoming caught in his throat as he saw Squirrelflight flinch, hiding her eyes from the hate their daughter was forcing on her. He sucked it back though, he needed to keep calm. So he just sat down, his tail waving patiently.

“It’s nice to finally meet you all.” He said, hoping it sounded as genuine as he meant it to, but the eeriness of the atmosphere was rendering him toneless. “Your mother told me so much about you.”

“Of course she did.” Hollyleaf grumbled, turning away as Brambleclaw whipped her back with his tail.

The brown deputy padded ahead, his amber eyes unreadable. “I assume you heard about the fire.”

“Yes.” Crowfeather nodded, still uneasy about his former friend. Last he’d heard, Brambleclaw was under the impression that the three were his, that thought still made Crowfeather’s stomach curl a little, so the fact he looked so... empty right now was extremely disconcerting. Unwittingly, Crowfeather felt his spine tense in case Brambleclaw had any ulterior motives here.

But as long as Squirrelflight was by his side, he didn’t think he had much to worry about.

“I’m glad to see you’re all okay.” Crowfeather mewed genuinely, using his tail to press gently against Squirrelflight’s pelt. “Were there any losses?”

At that, every cat suddenly turned grave; an unknown darkness louring over the Thunderclan pack.

“One.” Brambleclaw said, hollow, unnerved. “That’s really why we’re here.”

“Apart from the obvious reason.” Jayfeather snapped in with a mood that Crowfeather recognised greatly. Brambleclaw silenced him with a harsh look, then he sighed and began to speak. Explain.

Fire. Secrets. Threats. Death. Anger.

So much anger.

All the while, Crowfeather’s face darkened and his tail curled more and more protectively around his mate as he sensed the tears coming back into her eyes.

By the end, he felt so much. Anguish for his love. Fear and relief for his kits. Twisted appreciation for Brambleclaw. Unbelievable hatred for this Ashfur character! 

He’d wanted them to someday find out that he was their real father. But not like that! Not as if it meant that there lives would be lost because of it! A stupid guilt coiled into Crowfeather, a wish that he could have been there, that he could have been the one to protect them.

He was jealous. Jealous that Brambleclaw had the opportunity to act like the father he never had been.

But still, even though it stung him to be, he had to be grateful to the brown tom.

He had saved his kits. He had saved his mate. And he had kept their secret.

“How long have you known?” Crowfeather sighed.

Brambleclaw hissed softly through clenched teeth, his eyes were screwed shut like it hurt to think. “Since the night you found out they were yours as well.”

That long? Fox-dung. Crowfeather couldn’t help but be shocked. He looked up with real questioning; Brambleclaw knew that Crowfeather hated being the one in the dark. “Why?”

The Thunderclan deputy heaved his impressive figure with the indication that he weighed as heavy as a mountain. His eyes darted to the three cats beside him, all silent and tortured with thought, the he looked back at Crowfeather. Levelly, but challenging. “I didn’t want to lose them.”

Ah. That was right. They were still his to lose. Crowfeather wanted to feel sympathetic to the tom that had clearly loved these kits with all his very being. But he didn’t have the power or graciousness to do so. 

He only scowled at the ground, sour resentment making his tail lash. Feeling the familiar unfairness that he was and was not the father of these kits. The cruelness of reality and consequence biting him with the sting of loss that twisted him every day.

A sharp grunt came from Jayfeather. “You’re not the one who deserves to be upset! We’re the ones who’ve been lied to the most!”

Crowfeather’s gaze drew back up, his mouth opening. How had he..?

He felt Squirrelflight quiver, her face met her son’s desperately, stark with pain. “Jayfeather please, it’s not his fault! He never even knew you were his until you were apprentices!”

“He didn’t try to say anything after though!” Jayfeather snapped back.

“And we’re not his!” Hollyleaf cried, looking furious at the very thought. She took a deliberate step towards Brambleclaw, her tail lashing with satisfaction at the wounded look that crept across Crowfeather’s face. “He didn’t raise us. He may be the one that Squirrelflight made the mistake to betray her clan for, but he is not my father!”

She spoke with amazing clarity. Toxic assurance. Crowfeather tried to hide the way it made his heart ache. This was the first time he was meeting his only daughter, and she spoke to him like he was a rogue.

Worse still, he had enough sense to understand her. Why should she see him as her father when he was never there? He may not have known about them when they were kits, but he’d never made the effort once he had found out.

But how could he? How could he let his kits know that they went against the Warrior Code just by existing? He felt a spiting anger for the stars. It wasn’t fair. All he and Squirreflight had done was be in love, and the kits they’d had had grown into Warriors that Crowfeather would be proud of no matter what they did.

Squirrelflight had told him about the strength of Lionblaze, about the loyalty of Hollyleaf, about the skill of Jayfeather, his medicine cat son. Of course Crowfeather had a right to be proud! He couldn’t take away the pride of their clan by telling them that it was him that was their father instead of the strong Deputy.

At his side, Squirrelflight stiffened, fixing her daughter with a firm stare despite the tears running down her cheeks. “I have made many mistakes in my life, Hollyleaf. But being with Crowfeather is not one of them!” She moved closer to him, her ginger fur mixing with his grey. Crowfeather’s felt something swell inside him. “Being with him made me happy and it gave me you three, that will never be something that I regret.” There was an edge to her voice that Crowfeather only heard in rare times. Most of them had come in their earliest days, when they had hated each other before finding out how much they truly liked the other.

Hollyleaf’s face coiled with astonishment, then filling back with the bitterness and anger. “Don’t talk about us like you cared! If you did you would have revealed this long ago.”

“That is a mistake I made.” Squirrelflight nodded, her voice still firmer than before, but laced with sadness. “I should have told you myself but I was worried about how it would affect you.” Her green eyes slowly found Brambleclaw. “How it would affect all of you.”

Brambleclaw bristled with something unknown, turning away.

“How it would affect us?” Hollyleaf laughed with resentment. “We go against Starclan, because of you two!” She glared at Crowfeather now. “How could you do this to your clan? Why in Silverpelt would you do this?”

Anger began to twitch across Crowfeather’s whiskers again. Her words sounded so much like the doubts that had kept him unhappy for so long. “Do what? Fall in love? It’s not really something I had a choice in you know!”

“But why her?” She whirled on Squirrelflight, her anger now sounding much more pleading. “Why him?”

Crowfeather’s eyes narrowed. His tail joined with Squirrelflight’s. “She made me happy.” They wouldn’t accept that, Crowfeather knew, They couldn’t possibly understand how much that meant to Crowfeather. Hazily, Squirrelflight nodded to join Crowfeather’s answer.

Hollyleaf made a deep sound in her throat that seemed to be in-between a growl and a sob. “Why couldn’t you be happy and normal as well?”

Every cat cringed at her words. Crowfeather did it out of true, remarkable hurt. 

Normal. Was that what she thought he went against? Or was it what she thought she went against now she knew she was his?

Was that what he did to her in the few hours he was her parent?

Crowfeather knew that he shouldn’t, but he felt truly distraught at that prospect.

Squirrelflight looked dismayed as well. But it was clearly not something Hollyleaf hadn’t said to her before.

“Were you happy?”

They all looked Lionblaze’s way. Crowfeather just now realised how quiet the cat had been. His amber eyes were low and stinging with something, but at least he was actually looking at Crowfeather without complete hate. 

“What do you mean?”

Lionblaze looked to the side, fighting to keep a straight face. “Were you happy when you found out we were yours?”

Hollyleaf’s pelt prickled. “What in Starclan does that mat-”

“I wasn’t asking you!” Lionblaze snapped, there was such strength in the way he shouted, a fire igniting in his glare, that even Crowfeather flinched. Hollyleaf, true to form, snarled but she said no more. The golden cat huffed, turning back to Crowfeather. “Well?”

Had Crowfeather been happy?

“No. Because that meant that I’d never been there to see my own kits grow.” Crowfeather hoped he was exulting just how painful that was. Lionblaze’s face softened. “It meant that I’d missed the most important moments of your lives.” 

When he saw Squirrelflight sink down, guilt tainting her beautiful face, he purred against her to show that he never blamed her actions. “But when your mother told me about you three, that made me a little happier to know what amazing cats you’d all become.”

Crowfeather didn’t notice Jayfeather feeling everything off of him. Feeeling the truth. He didn’t see the young cat’s anger slowly fading as he saw all the moments his parents had shared, the genuine love they held for each other, and for their kits.

“She talked about us?” Lionblaze asked.

Crowfeather smiled, pressing his nose against her neck making her stifle a laugh. He ignored Brambleclaw looking away with a sigh. “Every time.”

Lionblaze glanced at Squirrelflight, and she shrugged with a small, sad smile. The golden tom scuffed the ground with his paw. “W-What did she say?”

Crowfeather actually found the effort to laugh slightly. “How long have you got?”

Jayfeather’s hard line across his mouth broadened, but his eyes were gentler. “Long enough.”

Crowfeather spoke about all he could, all the pleasant memories that Squirrelflight had felt and experienced and shared with him. Their first kills, Jayfeather’s experiences in the medicine den, their warriors ceremonies, all the Thunderclan cats who spoke so well of them. Then eventually Crowfeather was able to mention pride that he himself had experienced.

Lionblaze blushed when he was told that Heathertail had spoken so well of him.

Jayfeather softened when Crowfeather spoke of how Kestrelflight was amazed by the things the blind cat could do.

Hollyleaf didn’t react when she found out that many Windclan cats had admitted she was one of the forest’s strongest warriors.

For a while, the atmosphere seemed relaxed. Not enough to seem like they were truly a father and his kits talking, but well enough to match what Crowfeather had imagined this moment of meeting would be like.

Crowfeather felt something warm as Lionblaze began to loosen, the tuft of fur around his neck puffing a little as he looked back at Squirrelflight. Perhaps he was able to hear the clear joy that Squirrelflight felt when she’d told Crowfeather about them. Perhaps he could feel the yearning in Crowfeather’s voice and the true pride he radiated when he thought of them.

“Th-That’s a lot.” Lionblaze admitted when Crowfeather was finally finished. The large cat looked amusingly small when he was so quiet.

Squirrelflight let out a tender laugh. “There was a lot to tell.”

For a second, it seemed that Lionblaze was about to smile. But a wilt came over him as he looked to the ground. “But no to us.”

Crowfeather and Squirrelflight both felt his betrayal. They lowered their eyes.

“Why? Couldn’t you have at least mentioned it?”

“We couldn’t.” Crowfeather said coolly. He nudged for Squirrelflight to be quiet when he was sure she was going to take sole blame again. He wasn’t going to let that happen. They’d take this together. “We didn’t want to tell you in case certain cats found out.” He took a brief look at Brambleclaw that made the brown tom clench. “We didn’t expect they’d react well.”

“But what about us?” Lionblaze pleaded, his tone becoming firmer. 

Squirrelflight stepped forward, pressing her head against her eldest’s. Crowfeather was relieved that he didn’t pull away. “I didn’t want to take away the pride that Thunderclan gave you. You were all so happy to be accepted by the clan, I didn’t think it would do any good to tell you the truth.” Again, she looked gently to Brambleclaw. “And I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Brambleclaw lashed his tail in clear skepticism.

“Brambleclaw, I am sorry for what happened.” Squirrelfight padded over to her friend and Crowfeather swallowed down his stupid jealousy. He didn’t want to admit it, but Brambleclaw deserved credit. “I could never say anything against how you raised them. You have always been a wonderful father to them, and nothing could take that away.”

“It doesn’t change what happened though.” Brambleclaw said bitterly, but there was true hurt shaking in his eyes.

Squirrelflight nodded gravely, her ears folding back. “I know. Not telling you in the first place has always been one of my biggest regrets.” Brambleclaw didn’t respond, but it was clear that it wasn’t anger surrounding the cat, but deep pain. “And now that I know that you actually kept quiet even though I never told you, I’m beginning to see just how right I was to choose you to raise them.”

Crowfeather smiled even though every word she said sounded like a whip against his skin. But he suspected the truth did hurt like this. How could he argue? He’d spoken about how proud he was of the cats his kits had become. Brambleclaw had been an amazing parent to them. Neither he nor Squirrelflight could ever deny him that.

He just wished he had been given the chance to prove himself to them.

The deputy didn’t move a muscle, but it was clear that there was no more real anger surrounding him. Just pain. Pain that he knew these kits would never really be his own. A pain that Crowfeather felt as well. It was a paradox they shared, a tragedy they couldn’t escape. They had to deal with the fate that life had bestowed on them.

A piercing yowl broke the silence, making every cat draw away at the cold fury in its wake. Hollyleaf began to step back, shaking her head. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

Squirrelflight began to tremble again, she took a step towards her daughter. “Hollyleaf-”

“So what?” The black molly shrieked, halting her mother in her terrified tracks. “What does it matter how you feel?” She glared back at Crowfeather, “Why should I care that you know so much about me? You’re not my father! Just some mongrel who was stupid enough to fall for this traitor!”   

Crowfeather didn’t reply. He was frightened it would reveal just how much her words hurt him.

Lionblaze frowned, clenching his teeth as he took a forceful pad towards Hollyleaf. “Would you calm down?”

Jayfeather braced himself.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down, you mouse-brain!” Hollyleaf yowled. A wind began to rush through the forest, making the rain sting as it hit the cat’s faces. “Have you gone mad? How can you sit there and act like this is okay?”

“I never said that-”

“Why should we sit here and listen to what these two talked about?” Hollyleaf didn’t let up, if anything her voice became louder. Her eyes blazed with green fire. “They’re nothing but a couple of selfish fox-hearts who betrayed everything we live by! They don’t deserve a second of our time!”

Squirrelflight’s eyes filled again with wet tears. Crowfeather frowned, his neck fur rising. “Hollyleaf, please listen-”

“No! You can shut up!” Hollyleaf advanced, swiping the air with unsheathed claws. They clearly weren’t meant to hit her, but Squirrelflight still jumped back like she’d been struck. She already looked like she was bleeding!

That was it! Crowfeather leapt over to the Thunderclan side of the border, placing himself between his mate and his daughter. He glared, knowing he wouldn’t dare hurt her, but promising he wouldn’t let her hurt Squirrelflight. Hollyleaf hissed at him meancingly.

“Enough of this. Whatever you think, your mother has only ever had your well-being in mind! She would never want to hurt you, surely you know that!”

“What would you know? You’ve never been there!”

Crowfeather’s lip curled, “I was there long before you were. I know your mother and she was only ever thinking of the best for you!”

Hollyleaf stiffened, turning away with a bitter growl and a swift swipe of her tail. “Then she never knew the best for us! If she did, she never would have seen you in the first place!”

Crowfeather growled deep in his throat, his tongue ready to strike again. Then he felt a light push on his side, Squirrelflight forcing herself ahead of him. “Crowfeather, calm down.” The urgency was back in his voice, a bite.

The Winclan tom stiffened with upset. Squirrelflight noticed this, sighing, and rubbing her tail along his pelt. She spoke up again, gentle and loving, “Please.”

A snarl of utter loathing forced them to look ahead. Hollyleaf’s fur was spiked with revulsion, she cast them another snapping glower. “I don’t have to see this! This was a waste of time!” She began to storm away.

Squirrelflight braced, her fur rising in despaired alarm. “Hollyleaf, please!”

“No!” Hollyleaf didn’t even look back.

The ginger molly began to tremble, tears spilling out of her eyes as she watched the icy back of her daughter slink away into the darkness. “Please just understand,” Squirrelflight cried, her voice rising in one last desperate mewl. “I did everything I did because I loved you, I still do and I always will!”

Hollyleaf looked back, green eyes fiery in the ebony shadow of the trees, but she didn’t stop leaving the cats. “If that’s what your love means, then I don’t want it!” She snapped her head away screaming into the trees. “That stray will never be my father!”

Squirrelflight let out a broken sob, stepping back as she felt the rejection course all over her. Crowfeather felt it too, burning his skin. There was no room for forgiveness in the ferocity of his daughter. She hated him, and Crowfeather knew she meant it with every strand of her fur.

Crowfeather’s throat was dry and he felt he had no words left. Not for this. A haze of consequence and blame sank around him, and he didn’t know if it would ever be lifted.

He’d been so happy to know he had a daughter. Now he wondered if he truly did, or ever would.

He knew that she never wanted him to be her father.

Movement twitched in the corner of Crowfeather’s eye and he saw Brambleclaw begin to follow Hollyleaf’s steps. “Where are you going?” Lionblaze questioned, his voice numbed by his sister’s reaction.

Brambleclaw stopped, looking back at the golden tom with a connection so deep that Crowfeather suddenly knew he could never match it. “I’ll talk to her about this. I’ll try to help her understand everything.” His voice lowered with a gentle tragedy. “Hopefully she’ll calm down if it’s me.”

Crowfeather bit his lip, focusing on the question on his mind. “Why?” Why would he want to help them? After all this. Why would he want to help the cat he once saw as his own realise she was another’s?

Brambleclaw’s muzzle contracted back, “I’m not doing it for you!” He snapped, bitterness on his fangs. “No matter what you say, I will always see them as mine!” He promised, staring right into Crowfeather’s glare. The grey tom didn’t hold back despite his knowledge that Brambleclaw could send him down with one paw. They both met each other with the strong mutual dislike.

Then Brambleclaw shifted his gaze to look at Squirrelflight. He mellowed. The ginger cat looked at her ‘mate’ with vulnerable wonder. “But, no matter what, they’ll always be hers as well.” He looked vulnerable too, breathing heavily, glancing back and forth between the cat he still loved and the cat he realised she loved instead. “She’s their mother, and I don’t want her, or any of you, to forget that.” He meowed, casting his once believed sons a desperate glance. A fatal resolution, perhaps his last request as a father.

“I’m not saying that what she did was the right thing.” Brambleclaw dipped his head with a small moan, it sounded like something that the cat should never make. “But I don’t believe for a second that she did anything that wasn’t out of love for you. You know she isn’t that kind of cat.”

When Squirrelflight found Brambleclaw’s gaze again, it was the most loving she had ever looked at him. Grateful, but aching.

The two young toms kept the deputy’s eyes a moment longer. Jayfeather looked away with a curled lip and Lionblaze stared painfully at the cat that was once his father.

Brambleclaw grit his teeth like a blizzard was stinging every atom in his bones, “She will always be your mother, and she will always love you.” Something seemed to bite his mind as his ears flicked back, “Please, don’t waste that.” He twisted to meet Squirrelflight, but his eyes were devoid of anything but emptiness. 

The ginger cat stood still, but the way she looked at him might as well have been her purring against him. “Thank you, Brambleclaw.”

“I don’t want you to thank me.” Brambleclaw said stonily, “Just make sure that these young cats do not get hurt in the future.”

Fire erupted in the Thunderclan molly’s eyes, “I never would.”

“I believe you.” If there was anything else he wanted to say, he didn’t say it, he stalked away, fading away as he went back to Thunderclan camp. Crowfeather almost felt guilty when he felt a twitch of relief that the cat was gone. He owed a debt to the cat, whether they wanted it or not.

“I’m going to make my way back as well.”

Those words might as well have been a kick to Crowfeather’s gut. 

Jayfeather stood still on his paws, glazed eyes unseeing but obvious with thought. His tail swung lazily from side to side, contemplating, but Crowfeather only felt the bite of dismissal again. Was he expected to take this from two of his kits before he could see them truly for a second time? The stars were truly cruel to him.

“Don’t be such a sad lump of fur. I’m not Hollyleaf!” Jayfeather snapped, this time straight at Crowfeather.

The Winclan cat looked up again, Jayfeather stared at him with an expression changing almost as quickly as Crowfeather’s emotions. Again, how did this cat seem to know so much?

His son’s grey fur laid flat and unnerved on his back, a soft sigh escaping him. “Don’t let your mind slip, I’m still angry with you both!” He clarified, his tail swiping the air like an unsheathed paw. “Neither of you had any right to lie to us for this long.”

Crowfeather groaned, “We weren’t trying to-”

“I don’t care. I’m still right.” There was such a short temperament yet a fiery certainty in his voice that Crowfeather couldn’t help but feel the slightest pride that his son had clearly taken after him.

Even if it was some of his worst qualities.

Jayfeather let his anger set, then it began to cool, his tail curling down on the floor. “But, I don’t hate you. I barely even know you after all.” 

It was hard to tell if that was a joke or a jab, so Crowfeather didn’t react.

Actually that wasn’t true. Crowfeather felt the smallest appreciation and vindication. He didn’t hate him. Why did that mean so much when it could hardly be considered a compliment? It was complicated and confusing. Of course it was. That was all Crowfeather’s life seemed to be.

So he did what he always did now. He accepted it. It was all he could do. These were all the product of his own choices and he had to take them in his stride.

“I’ll go back with you as well.” Lionblaze mewed, stepping beside his brother. Seeming to feel the dread creeping back into his parents, Lionblaze swiftly gave them a pointed look, his tail rising.

“I don’t hate you either!” He said quickly, a sheepish glow rising on his whiskers. “I-I think I understand why did what you did.”

Crowfeather knew he didn’t really. But it was enough when he saw the answer made Squirrelflight’s misery begin to construct into something wonderful again. A bloom rippling on her tear stained cheeks.

Then Crowfeather felt his stomach sink when Lionblaze’s gaze dropped again, now conflicted and strangely... guilty? “But I-I don’t want to lie to you.” The golden tom stepped towards Crowfeather, already a whisker above his father’s height, and the Winclan tom lowered a little more when he saw the lack of recognition, the frailty of true acceptance.

“I-I’m sorry but, Brambleclaw will always be my father. He’s the one who raised me.”

There it was. Now Crowfeather really began to feel it. Lionblaze’s words pounded in his ears, a torture that the cat clearly didn’t want to submit the older cat to. Be he was. Renunciation seared around Crowfeather, branding him with the reality that it was truly too late for that kind of relationship to blossom.

It was the same for Jayfeather as well as Crowfeather saw him nod slowly.

It burned like the stars above. The truth that Crowfeather suspected but had tried to avoid; why had he expected anything different? He had never been there. Be it his fault or not, it was a fact. Why should they reject Brambleclaw for a father that they would never really see?

He wanted to lash out, he wanted to blame them, but he couldn’t. Once again, it was a consequence of the life he’d taken. No one was to blame.

He just had to keep his head down, bite his lip, and take it. 

He felt Squirrelflight curl against his side, and hoped that would make it a little easier.

“I do want to see you again though.”

The burning stopped, if just a little. Crowfeather let true shock come over him as he found his son’s gaze again. The golden tom stood tall, lacking any resemblance of recognition, but still luminous with something else. Kindness? Pity? Forgiveness? Whatever it was, it made Crowfeather bask in something he, for once, knew was good.

“If that’s alright with you? Could we be able to speak again?” There wasn’t anything demanding in his voice, just hope. True interest. Friendliness. Lionblaze looked on patiently, eager, trusting.

Why was it this... this that made Crowfeather’s throat hurt instead of Hollyleaf’s hostile rejection?

Crowfeather took it in, the dismissal and the yearning. The opportunity he was still mercifully granted. His stomach felt like it had the day he had received his Warrior name, or the day he found out the cat he held so closely wanted the same things he did.

And now, his son wanted something from him, not what Crowfeather really wanted, but how could Crowfeather deny the rare hopes he was gifted.

“I’d like that.” Crowfeather said raggedly.

Lionblaze smiled. A real smile. Actual happiness. It was swarming. It only grew as Lionblaze slowly padded to his mother and didn’t hesitate to press his forehead against hers. “No matter what,” He purred, “You will always be my mother.”

It was contact that Crowfeather knew he’d never receive, but his heart still soared when the blazing, flaring relief twisted Squirrelflight’s face and made her cry. She rubbed her muzzle beside her son’s, afraid to break away as if it could mean she would come so close to losing him again.

But it was clear now. She would never lose Lionblaze. That was something.

Once Lionblaze had stepped back, still beaming with love, Jayfeather took the brief moment to press his forehead against his mother’s. Her shock was minimal compared to the cats around her. “There’s a lot we still need to talk about.” Jayfeather tried to sound hard, but the quaver was unmissable. His tail wrapped around her. “But... I’ll try if you will.”

Squirrelflight held her son close, crying still, promising she would.

Crowfeather would try as well, whatever chances he was given. Jayfeather didn’t say a word to him, which made Crowfeather’s pelt feel cold, but he accepted the small nod his son cast in his direction.

It was hard to tell what the nod held, but Crowfeather needed to be hopeful. It was all he had left.

“We’ll see you back at camp, okay.” Lionblaze mewed to his mother. He spoke gently, like he was still grasping onto her with his forepaws. 

She nodded, shining.

Lionblaze nudged Jayfeather to his side, then he sent one more look Crowfeather’s way. “See you later.” It wasn’t curt or unfaithful, it was a promise.

Crowfeather promised back, he swore on Deadfoot’s memory that he would never let go of the little he had. He never took his eyes away as his sons padded softly back to the clan they’d been raised in. Their true home...

Crowfeather swallowed. They were trying. He had to as well, even from the shallow end of the river. He was their father, he had to be proud of whatever choices they made. Respect the Warriors he would have been proud to call his own.

He didn’t know if that was possible.

His attention turned back to his mate, she watched her sons walk off as well. She was wiping away the tears from her eyes with her tail. Crowfeather remembered another duty he still had. One that he had made his own. Purring deep in his throat, he bent down to lick Squirrelflight’s cheek. “That face never suited you.” He joked tenderly.

She let out a ragged laugh, sinking into his touch. Her smile was sparkling. “Oh, don’t you start with that. I’ve seen you cry like a kit too many times.”

“That’s different. You’re made of stronger stuff than me.” Crowfeather began running his tongue along her head.

“Oh am I?” She giggled.

“How else could you have raised such wonderful cats?”

She must have caught the twitching loss in his tone as she pressed against him, rubbing her muzzle against his neck. “It’s going to be alright. You should have seen how they were looking at me hours ago.” He felt her grow still, relishing in their rare embrace. “They’ll understand soon. Brambleclaw will help.”

“I know.” Crowfeather said, his voice hollowing, but he never moved away from her. He didn’t have the will to hate the deputy anymore. “That’s because they’re his.” It was painful yet fulfilling to say it out loud. Relieving to accept the truth.

“They’re yours as well.” Squirrelflight lulled.

“No. You were the only one of us that was there, Squirrel.” Crowfeather accepted, his head sank away to smile down at her. Proud to call himself her mate. “They’re yours more than any cat’s.”

Squirrelflight stared up at him, sadness tainting her again. 

Crowfeather did what he could to calm her. “But that’s fine.” He mewed, then he pressed his head against hers playfully, “Because I’m still yours right?” He teased, rubbing her fur with his own.

Squirrelflight began to laugh, though it did almost sound like crying, she pulled her head away, green eyes glinting lovingly up at the cat she had chosen. Then her lips met his. And Crowfeather remembered why he had chosen the life he had. Why he didn’t regret a moment?

She broke away, smiling. “You shouldn’t ask questions you know the answer to, it’s not polite.”

“Was that a lesson you taught them as well?”

It was moments like this where they could forget the harshness of what surrounded them. Because for these brief moments, everything that went against them seemed to fall into a perfect balance with the many things that held them together.

It was why they could accept what would come. Be it bad or good, the beginning had been worth it all.

...

So that was that. A nice little mix of angst and fluff, I believe. I enjoyed writing it, I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Please send some much deserved praise to @lonely-ghost-606! They created the ideas for this AU, I just helped flesh them out!

Thanks for reading!

#crowfeather #squirrelflight #Thunderclan #WindClan #brambleclaw #hollyleaf #lionblaze #jayfeather #Warriors #warrior au #Warrior Cats #warriors fic #crowsquirrel #squirrelcrow

[stimmypaw]

Warriored Cat Thoughts: A Reply To A BrambleFan

I read this fan article about Brambleclaw, and I wrote some thoughts about it and OP liked it so I decided to share them here also. All below but summary is that his development made sense, even if it upset the fans, people just missed some of his darker qualities probably.

First thing that I notice in this article is this: "In a relationship, there are two people (or cats) trying to work together, and it’s a two-way street. Fights are usually made when one person is struggling to meet in the middle, and a lot of the time, the fights resolve themselves and both people in the relationship grow and learn from their mistakes." Now this is very confusing, why does a relationship need the participating parties to fight? When I'm not managing to uh "meet in the middle" with someone I care about I try to talk to them, I never get into a fight with my loved ones, the one time that happened in my life things were very wrong and turned very unhealthy! I can't understand your argument that it's more realistic and healthy for Bramblestar and Squirrelflight to fight, interesting maybe because it's drama sure, but realistic and healthy I don't know. I don't remember the books I haven't read in a while but this argument doesn't seem to make sense to me. If fight was just a word for "Communication" you should have said that instead. Warrior Cats has some issues doing proper communication and it's definitely not where I'd go to learn about it but uh as the article continues, OP seems to think it is: "But the fact that they reconciled in The Last Hope continued and stayed faithful to the message of how fights are important for those in a relationship to grow and understand each other." I think the cool thing here instead was that they reconciled, that Brambleclaw was able to process what happened and feel better and grow to understand and trust his mate enough to want to be with her again, let me know if that's not exactly what happened since it's been a while since I read OOTS but I think the message here shouldn't and isn't that fighting with your loved ones is good. It's not good, it's ok that it happens sometimes but it's still a bad thing and you should solve your issues in another way, waiting for problems to break into a fight is not healthy or necessary in any way shape or form. If that's how any of you live, please change. Then, OP describes what he calls "the Onestar effect", in which a character becomes leader and loses their development as the authors pay less attention to them, consequently becoming a jerk Personally howerver, I think Onestar was made a jerk on purpose and, while it seemed a bit sudden it makes perfect sense plot wise :o He was young and inexperienced. He worried a LOT about his image. And there was a lot of pressure, and a whole coup, because of how nice and friendly he seemed specially to Thunderclan. I'd be very surprised if he still managed to seem nice and friendly after that, I think if he tried to do that he probably wouldn't have managed and Windclan would have coup'd him out eventually. He became a jerk and unfriendly as a result of all the other happenings in his life and that is very reasonable and uh in my opinion some good character writing. I think that could be the case for uh Brambleclaw being an incompetent leader too. OP says it was just for conflict but, it feels a bit like uh just his development in Bramblestar's Storm which was uh not fun I'll say that here I didn't have fun reading Bramblestar's Storm I thought it was kinda boring, but it's what happened to his character and his actions followed his development from there I think. He wants to be loved as a leader just like Firestar was. This bit actually I think has always been kind of there in his character? He feels hated because of his origins and he really REALLY wants to prove himself and feel better no matter what he has to do to get there He learns some lengths taken for respect aren't worth taking (like accepting attention from your father's evil deceased spirit) and uh I think the ending of Bramblestar's Storm tries to tell us he learns he is already respected and a good leader and he just needs to chill a bit. And maybe the thing from AVOS is that he's kind of too chill sometimes, his son is exploding with anxiety because of the prophecy and he's like "Calm down kid it's just a lil Starclan

you'll figure it out" like it isn't a real issue that is affecting all clans as he speaks. I've heard people say this is him being a bad father but I think it's him being a bad leader, he's like a pretty average father in my eyes not particularly bad just kind of uh not very existent maybe but that's the average for Warrior Cats fathers, Alderheart seems to think kindly of him and their relationship but we don't actually get to see them uh bond that much, they have a fun interaction once or twice I think??? It's like, really average. Hm, in conclusion, Brambleclaw has always been average! A cat with flaws and qualities, and uh a lot of his flaws stayed and some got worse or more visible with time. As the readers grow our vision of the stories do too, and things won't always be the way they seemed when we were kids.

#as a kid i thought ashfur went bad out of nowhere #mostly because i had a vision of him before reading where he was really evil and bloodthirsty and uh the books are more subtle #and i couldn't catch that when i was younger #i wasnt expecting the fire scene at all #and this is one of my many reasons why i think kids shouldn't read warrior cats #at least not without an adult to supervise it #wc #warrior cats #warriors #brambleclaw #bramblestar #alderheart #oots spoilers #avos spoilers #tnp spoilers