will there be any significant adjustments to batear and fenneldust's story in BaB? random duo of minor characters to bring up i know but they are very special to me and probably my favorite part of BB so i'd like to know what's in store for them :]
I could NEVER. There's no improving on them. They're THE dynamic to me.
"If you hurt my friend I will kill you."
"Lol just did! What are you gonna do about it?"
His mom the Clan leader: "What Did You Do?"
Batear: "Dude I was VERY clear about what the consequences of that action were gonna be. He can stay in that shallow grave forever Im not telling you where I put his ass :L"
Fenneldust, in heaven: "ouuuugh i can't NOT walk platonically into hell with him"
In the spirit of giving out new information about them, have I mentioned Batear is gay and Fenneldust is bi. I have an extremely minor but irrelevant flight of fancy that they have both had a fling with fellow Dark Forest Demon Houndleap, and both of them feel too awkward about it to tell the other.
Fenneldust feels like she can't tell Batty because she knows he finds him attractive and doesn't want to be rude in getting to him first
Batear is embarassed he had a fling with him so fast and fell for his flirting so easily, and has quietly vowed that he won't say anything unless Fends does. Because if FENNELDUST says something then it's normal.
Neither one knows the other's secret. Houndleap does not even notice.
[ID: BB!Shredtail holding a spear and asking, "legit question for rural Americans: How do I kill the 30 - 50 feral hods that run into my yard within 3 - 5 mins while my small kids play"]
[ID: BB!Fenneldust and BB!Houndleap. Fenneldust says, "I'm not like other girls. I don't die when I'm killed." Houndleap says "How is '''pretty boy''" supposed to be an insult i'm the prettiest goddamn boy in town]
"The horrifying eldritch fallen angel likes ME best because I'm hot"
[ID: The Better Bones AU version of Houndleap from Warrior Cats. He is a black-and-white tom with ginger flecks in his black parts, and a fluffy white tail tuft. His ears are burned away, and he has orange, swirly keloid scars. He also has a heart-shaped paw pad.]
Here by popular request! Holy MOLY you all jumped on the offhanded manwhore comment lmao.
Houndleap's a great example of cats who are in the Dark Forest for breaking non-violent commandments. The only thing he's killing is the gene pool, with his 6 known mates and the 16 kittens between them all. No, he wasn't in love with them all either, he just liked to play the game.
He is as close to the ideal Clan cat as one can get, and he knows it, and flaunts it. Tri-colored with beautiful ginger flecks, he fell victim to a terrible moor fire and came out with severe burns. His surviving was already a great mark of strength, but then he became even luckier when his shiny scars raised, and slightly spread from the initial injury.
Clan cats didn't have a word for keloids, they only knew it was gorgeous. As if StarClan had given him a scar that dances and shimmers.
Houndleap "abused" this gift, seeing as many cats as possible and cheating on his 'official' mate back home. In the modern era, he might have just been a very popular Honor Sire, but this was before the Queen's Rights and the Aftergathering. He was eventually caught, and after his death, he was banished to the Dark Forest for violating the Law of Loyalty on more than 5 counts.
Yes. More than 5 counts. StarClan was able to see that he had even more than 5 halfclan mates (and they're not even counting the wife he cheated on) but only 5 got pregnant.
Alignment: Dark Forest, ex-WindClan
Time Period: Skyfall Era
Relations: Too fucking many
Houndleap's addition to the Dark Forest is Lover's Beck, a twisted, romantic version of a spot in the Gorge where he used to meet with his secret lovers. It's his worst memory because he planned poorly and two of them showed up at the same time and that's how he got caught.
More trivia below!
Canon said he's solid-colored and I said no. Pretty boy.
There are several minor features in his design that will be seen in modern family lines. I won't point them out but there's 3 total (so far.)
I decided to use him as an example of nearly ideal beauty standards in BB, since I famously overhauled them from canon. He is brightly colored with complicated patterns, slightly chunky, and has a HUGE scar on the face.
Personality is slut. He just wants to flirt, man. Theme song is Mambo #5 he's just like that.
He works with Tigerstar in OotS mostly because it's not like there's anything better to do. Plus some of the trainees are hot, "hellooooo Ratscar"
When Antpelt dies, Houndleap is one of the cats who needs the most convincing to come back into the alliance. It's one thing when it's funny haha Attack And Dethrone God or whatever, but PERMAdeath??
Thankfully, Hawkfrost is a fantastic diplomat.
Generally, Houndleap is motivated by whatever's fun. He was one of the first to fall in line under Ashfur and will do basically anything if he's bored.
"We're teaching people how to kill? sure lmao. Oh we're attacking the living? Ok cool. Guard the prisoners? Not like I had plans anyway. Anyway wanna get evil dinner later, handsome <3 ?"
Likes drama, tea, stories, games, anything that brings him a little excitement really.
He can usually be counted on to join whatever silly project the group's up to this time, like catching Shrewpaw's Pheasant.
I cannot stress enough how much of a normal Crummy Dude he is. He's just some standard jerkwad guy. The Dark Forest in Better Bones contains several people like him, who might be sleazeballs or jackasses, but we would generally agree don't deserve Hell.
When canon comes up with a Houndleap backstory, I'll consider what to do with it. But for now we only know that Hound came from WindClan, which I've included.
Can we ask what Houndleap's punishment in life was?
Exile, plus very public humiliation. ALL the leaders were informed of Houndleap's crimes, he couldn't join a different Clan after that.
For all the fun his concept is, the end of his life was actually pretty sad. His official mate at home was humiliated and embarassed, a lot of his lovers were revealed as codebreakers and the kits as HalfClan, there were some who managed to avoid being "revealed" but lived in anxiety that they would be found out.
And not all of his lovers really cared that The Most Attractive Cat Ever was seeing multiple cats. Like... of course he was? They knew that going in. This was before Honor Siring, but we can consider it similar in hindsight.
And in a more modern time, he probably just would have been an Honor Sire, and any cats who considered it as such would have had the Queen’s Rights to protect them.
He eventually was allowed back into WindClan but he was not treated well. He IS a cheater, but they didn't hate him for CHEATING, they hate him for codebreaking.
I imagine he was actually very angry at his trial, in a sad way. "Haven't I been through enough?! Hasn't EVERYONE been through enough?!"
Get him really relaxed and in a mood to be genuine (which is rare, he's a smarmy bastard), and he might really tell you about how much he resents being stuck in the Dark Forest. He's bored. He's frustrated. He wanted to see his mom and his sister who died as an apprentice, but they're probably faded now.
Yet, here he is. In the same Hell as kitten-killers and dictators. Even though he's never hurt a person off the battlefield, and has only ever broken non-violent commandments.
I think it would be extremely funny if Houndleap is channeled for luck with romance and/or fertility
It could work out well for him that he's able to set little "infatuation" curses, it fits with how Clan Culture views "Ardor" as a negative thing.
I think I'll do that, you can channel him to ask for him to help a cat develop ardor for you, but ardor inherently doesn't last. He can't help you get someone to fall in love with you, but he WILL lie and tell you that he can.
Having seen that dark forest post, details on Houndleap (also can these cats make tea? Cats being able to use "spill the tea" makes me happy)
Houndleap was a VERY attractive cat. He was black, white, with tiny little ginger flecks in his patches. He had scars in all the right places, and he was also excellent at applying makeup.
Just, gorgeous man.
This was looong before the Queen’s Rights and honor siring, but everyone wanted a piece of this guy. In his own Clan, he was cheating on his wife, and in other Clans, he had at least 4 flings.
Between at least 6 mates, there were almost 16 kittens. Boy was out here RUINING the genetic diversity.
He wasn't really a BAD dude besides being a sleazeball, but StarClan did not like his constant codebreaking. It wasn't just one little instance, it was over and over. So, he was damned when he died.
'the evil fallen angel likes me best because Im hot' cracking up over the idea of Houndleap being such a sleazebag that he tries to flirt with living/recently deceased cats
This guy would completely and unironically use, "Hey babe, did it hurt? When you fell from heaven" on the newest arrival, and somehow it would work. Total Sleaze Behavior.
Houndleap now has me thinking. If there’s so many funny little cat whores in the dark forest there has to eventually be like. The Seattle polycule. Started by those slutty slutty cats and their desire to have fun in hell
Be prepared: starclan warn that this polyamorous relationship could expand to cover over half the place of no stars by 2021 !!!!!!!
(Also brokenstar w. Man really just straight left. If it sucks hit the bricks)
There's deeeeefinitely more than one Dark Forest cat who has had a lapse in judgement and woken up in a cute little heart-shaped kitty leaf nest next to Houndleap lmao. But I'm positive many of them will not admit this.
I feel like both Batear AND Fenneldust have done this and they both feel bad about it because the other one thinks Houndleap is so attractive that it violates Best Friend Rules to make a move like that.
But if they talked about it, it'd be like "OMG NO WAY!!"
