Dunno if they properly count to be recycled but in 'Into the Wild' Dawncloud mentions having more kittens she doesn't want to be killed which can't be Blossom or Swamp who are dead by this point.
I'm counting them. I haven't named them yet, but in my notes, they're marked down as "WindClan Massacre 1" and "WindClan Massacre 2."
Dawncloud is a mess in-canon. She's an apprentice who's supposed to be an old queen with several litters, and a mate so old he should have been dead before she was born. The way I've decided to approach her is by making her more accurate to her TPB appearance; an old queen.
She is now Raggedstar's littermate.
A friend of Yellowfang's youth, along with Ashflame (previously ShC Ashfur).
Finchflight was a total git. The kind of husband that you really hope she divorces, but never does.
Nasty to her friends, really full of himself, a fantastic warrior who doesn't let you forget it.
"Dawcy, what do you see in that guy?" "Ohh, you don't know him like I do."
Together, they had several litters of kits. I'm still working out the nitty gritty details on how many litters and how many kits in each.
The oldest were the two who eventually die in the massacre. There weren't as many ShadowClan casualties as WindClan casualties that night, but they were strong warriors in the initial strike squad.
I'm thinking of giving them bird names-- Drake and Harrier, maybe. Finchflight would want his firstborn kits to have names like him, and Dawncloud would oblige.
Scorchwind is in a later litter. He was born after his uncle earned the honor title of Raggedpelt, and Dawncloud adored her brother's old name.
With his blessing, the unused, "lucky name" was passed to Scorchkit.
There's another "maybe" cat who might be hers-- a Glitch Warrior, the "Not Brokenstar" forest rogue from Rise of Scourge.
His WIP name is Braketail. A brake is a marshland dominated by one species of plant. I'm tempted to make his name Brakebone though.
May or may not stay in the Dawnkin family, though. Depends.
Since BB!Brokenstar both does not have the "child soldiers" plotline and has a much longer rule than his canon counterpart, Dawncloud is now the progenitor of some "kit saves."
Currently, Mossthorn is her lastborn.
Finchflight died while they were young, so their temperament is vastly different from his older siblings.
From there, Swampfang, Volewhisper, and Blossomfrost are grandchildren now.
Discopaw and her unnamed sibling (current WIP name Poppaw) may also be Dawnkin, depending.
I'm still deciding who the parents were, though.
Current draft is giving Swamp/Bloss/Vole to Mossthorn, but I might give them to one of the dead firstborns. I like the idea of Volepaw getting horribly mauled while rushing to his parent's defense.
Dawncloud there in the camp, burying two children and unsure if her grandson will survive his injuries, deciding in that moment she cannot lose another kit.
Sadly though, this doesn't have a happy ending. Dawncloud's family is devastated by Runningnose's plague.
Dawncloud, Mossthorn, Volewhisper, and Pop are taken out as Nightstar sympathizers. Disco and Swamp are targeted too, but survive.
Blossomfrost wanted to be a Cleric. She begged Runningnose to let her help, not knowing it was him who had unleashed it on the Clan that "betrayed" Brokenstar.
He warned her that the plague was dangerous, and that there were serious risks involved. She could have distanced herself from the infected, stayed safe. But she didn't.
Her death was unfortunate collateral. She was a bright young warrior with a good heart. A waste.
I'm unsure if Discopaw will stay in this family, but it's definitive that Crowfrost will be descended from Dawncloud. What defines this family is their bright, two-colored irises. Crow has cobalt ringed by brilliant blue frost.
To add insult to injury, I imagine Nightwhisper's name is a direct reference to Volewhisper. Probably Runningnose's idea; to have the first warrior that Tigerstar names be a repeat of the first title Nightstar gave.
'Let this be the sight you die seeing, Dawncloud,' Runningnose's subtle smile and gleeful eyes silently declare, 'I've taken your kits. I've trampled their honor. Everything you betrayed your Clan for was for nothing.'
It's only the beginning of TigerClan's tyranny, a droplet of the bloodbath to come.
BB!Mistystar really does have the best arc in Better Bones, ngl
context below the cut:
BB!TNP is an arc that confronts a lot of the leftover ideas from TPB, one of which is an overhaul of Hawkfrost. Instead of being "The Tiger in RiverClan," he was groomed by the remaining TigerClan supporters to inherit his father's legacy
Mistyfoot realizes that he wasn't the root of the evil; he was a symptom. And RiverClan doesn't "go back to normal." After another clan discussion blows up into a huge argument, she looks up for help to her leader on the stump... only to see her gazing down with amusement.
The setting sun turns Leopardstar into a black shape on a dark, spiky hill, splinters and branches jagged like rotting bones. Her eyes flash, Tigerstar amber, Dark Forest red, and Mistyfoot understands that these ideas won't die unless they are killed.
She finishes Leopardstar by bashing her head on a rock in the southern delta, an inlet river, which is what causes the lake to run red with blood. Hawkfrost's death is now impaling himself on the stake by accident, charging at Mothwing when she pulls it out of the ground.
Mistyfoot then chooses Sedgecreek as her first deputy.
imagine if cinderpelt stabbed a boar during the boar attack to save sorreltail while kitting and also gets run through by its tusk at the same time. shredtail would be hooting and hollering from hell like “HELL FUCKING YEAH LETS GO BABY LETS GOOOOO GET HIS ASS” i could be wrong and forgetting the boar attack replacing the badger attack in bb!twilight goes differently but it’s the first image that came to mind when you mentioned in the tags you wanted cinderpelt to have a stick and stab something with it
[ID: Mr. Burns from the Simpsons eagerly winds across a balcony to cup his hand to his dastardly ear in a Grinchly manner. The camera zooms in as his fingers curl outwards and his brow piques with malicious interest.]
Perhaps she knows that she, alone, cannot defend her brother's mate and her nespring against the terrible beasts outside. As one snuffles at the cave mouth, slobbering at the bloody scent of afterbirth and sweet-sharp taste of fear, Cinderpelt realizes that the looming shadow of flesh and fangs is just small enough to squeeze into their hiding place.
But not large enough for another boar to follow.
As the hog blocks out the thin beams of light in the entrance of the cave, it catches a straight, ruthless path towards her in its shining eye. She tucks her weapon below her belly and braces its stem against the ground like a stake. Her head is held high, meeting its stare as her bait. A comfortable, familiar pain throbs through her hip as she stares into the gaze of the boar as if it's a headlight.
This won't be the first monster she's fought in her life-- but it will be the first one that she drags down with her.
Since the clans cook with fire, I imagine they'd have plenty of soot laying around because of it. Do they ever use it for ink or dying "clothes" or is it just the stuff apprentices get stuck with cleaning at the end of the day for a moon when in trouble?
A bit of both! Soot can be combined with water to create Bistre. It's a brown pigment that works nicely for watercoloring.
Unfortunately, the best ""paper"" the clan cats have is parchment... but they don't do a lot of writing yet, nor do they have written history. And parchment doesn't take watercolors well, especially not the natural tones of bistre.
So bistre is seen as an apprentice material. It's sort of like crayon. You're not expected to draw great art with it, but it's easy to make and it's a chore to clean out the oven anyway, so you might as well have fun with the soot.
Whitestorm actually really loved bistre, much to his father's chagrin. He continued to draw with it into his warriorhood. His son, Sootfur, was named after it. Sootfur really loved this about his name, and it encouraged an interest in bistre drawings in turn.
He was an artsy guy, but unfortunately his life was cut tragically short. In death, he's twisted up about the unfairness of dying before he was able to paint the beautiful, exposed walls of the new ThunderClan camp.
tawnypelt honor title pleeeease she deserves it tigerstars daughter with the burden of a million expectations on her but who who has always adamantly gone her own way. maybe tawnysun or tawnydusk. also, whats her relationship with mothwing like? in the books their heritage as tigerkin was super neglected (misogyny) but it ended up creating two very indepentent characters who defined themselves outside of their fathers, unluke hawk and bramble who never could
I wish I could justify a four-tiger pileup at the Snare Scene, but it would change the events waaay too much to stay in the spirit of BB. Like, have it somehow be Tawnypelt who was targeted for ultimately rejecting her father so she's in the trap, somehow this would give Brambleclaw power or expose him so he hesitates, Mothwing jumps in to save Tawnypelt, Hawk and Bramble fight, and then Hawkfrost impales himself on the stake Mothwing is holding.
Especially since BB!TNP is now from the perspective of the Tigerkin-only. It would be really cool for it to be the ultimate confrontation between the four tiger cubs.
But, it is what it is.
I wish there was more space to explore a Tawnypelt/Mothwing dynamic, but I think there's a reason beyond just misogyny tbf (tho it is also present). When you have two half-siblings who reject their shared dad, what really connects you?
Nothing. I've seen it irl too. People don't like to hear this, but family IS a choice. The associations and expectations put on you because of your family aren't, and WHO you are born TO isn't a choice. But whenever your family comes to support you, every instance where you stand with them through hardship, the monumental task of being there for each other, time after time, IS A CHOICE.
It always has been.
When Brambleclaw learned that Hawkfrost was only connected to him through his bloodline, even after (canonically) being told Hawk never faced the same discrimination he did, he was CHOOSING to act as his brother. He was CHOOSING to accept that Tigerstar is something to unite over.
Tawnypelt and Mothwing don't. Nothing makes them sisters besides a man that one of them never even met.
Now dgmw. I don't think the Erins believe this, they're obsessed with magical, innate blood emotions. I think they didn't explore Tawny and Moth because they care less about girls, bottom line.
But I think this is why it wouldn't really make sense if they tried. And it's something I'd say on purpose if I had the chance.
Have you thought about in-universe explanations for why Crowfeather (infected king!) was the only member of the Sundrown patrol to receive an Honor Title? Especially Tawnypelt, because I recall you mentioning she was leading the patrol at one point! In a perfect world I imagine they'd probably all get one, but I figure you can't just go around changing major character's names willy nilly like that.
In a perfect world the names would all become Honor Titles but yeah I try to avoid renames. I COULD be convinced to giving Tawnypelt an Honor Title though.
If I gave her an honor title it would be something like Tawnytreader, Sunsetchaser, or Sunsetter. It's in reference to how she eventually leads the Great Journey west through the mountain, towards the setting sun INSTEAD of directly North to the Lake, so that the Clans could meet with and get supplies from the Tribe of Rushing Water. Her leadership of the Sundrown Patrol and leading the Clans during the Great Journey makes her an immediate hero.
Brambleclaw probably gave up his Honor Title purposefully. He hesitated when Firestar was in the snare, and Mothwing leapt out of a bush to free the dying leader. He's ashamed of his inaction, so I think it's actually very poignant of him to say;
"I understand why you're taking away my deputyship... may I also ask for you to take this title from me?"
"But why, Northheart? You want to become Brambleclaw again?"
"...I was happy to have broken from his legacy, at first. But now I don't think I ever will. I think I need to be reminded of where I came from, or else I'll put it too far behind me."
Like, really drive home that what I'm doing here with Bramble is a tragedy. Everyone WANTS him to get better, to be good at self-reflecting and make good choices. They want so badly for him to break free of his father's association and be a positive representation of his powerful bloodline. Be he never does.
It doesn't bring him joy to be the way he is. And there's times he's so, so close to realizing that he should stay away from power. But time and time again, GIVING him that power is a mistake, and on his end, he always takes it.
"Northheart" isn't as punchy as it could be though. I have to think about it...
(Especially since I like how in canon, the "bramble claws protect the camp" prophecy could have applied to Thornclaw just as well. Maybe I'll change it so it could have applied to Brackenfur somehow)
Small recap: after their deaths, every member of the patrol is exalted and will become Directional Patrons. The two tagalongs also get associations.
Tawnypelt: West, towards the Ocean
Crowfeather: East, towards the Wilderness
Brambleclaw: North, towards the Lake
Feathertail: South, towards the Tribe
Stormfur: Patron of those who Leave (he is not joining StarClan though, these prayers go, symbolically, unanswered.)
Squirrelflight: Patron of Missions, most often invoked for Salt Patrols.
Stormfur didn't get a title because the leader at the time was Leopardstar. She wasn't very reverant of the mission to begin with, and Stormfur never returns to RiverClan after she let him be exiled by the False Sign.
Squilf actually does have an Honor Title-esque name in Clanmew! It's Pishkafsheek; "Red Squirrel Soars (like a bird of prey)." "Sheek" isn't regularly used to describe prey movements.
considering spiderleg is like *that* and squirelflight being diehard fire alone i cant imagine them being friends in BB like they were sort of in the canon books. were they or did it disolve after time passed and spiderleg got more into traditional/thistle law. also who were her other friends? i saw daisy was in another ask but who else (really eager to know who booed at mousefur and thronclaw lol)
So to begin with, Squirrelflight is in an odd place, generation-wise. She is born while Firestar is on his quest with Brokenstar, and grows up in a period of peace and prosperity.
Unfortunately she keeps failing her goddamn assessments
So while Leafstripe is a fully trained Cleric, Sorreltail recovered from being hit by a car and graduated, and Ashfur tried to hold out for her for a while before moving up, Squirrelpaw is here absolutely eating leaf litter with her wrecklessness
Goldenflower, her mentor, even tries to tell Firestar that she's not being vindictive, just in case he got the wrong idea. He assures her that, no. No he understands <:/
So Spider, Shrew, and Squirrel end up as apprentices together. There was a time where they were really close, getting in trouble in spite of their three strict mentors. Bad influence trio, all of them coming from respected parents and doing their best to embarass them.
That only started to change when Squirrelpaw went on the Great Journey, but then returned just in time to see Shrewpaw die. A lot of things were different, now. Squirrelpaw came back exalted for being on a holy quest. Spiderpaw had watched a lot of his clanmates die. She was spending more time with Brambleclaw; he had become very protective of his little brother, Birchkit.
They had both grown in a flash. Hard times will do that to you.
During the Great Journey, Spiderpaw was really close to the other Clan apprentices while Squirrelpaw hung out with the Sundrown Patrol. Spider looks back at this time in his life with a lurch in his stomach that he can't put into words.
He was there when Paw Soup was made. Talonclaw and Smokefall were friends of his even more than they were friends of little Birchkit. Spiderleg just left it behind when they got to the Lake, where his little brother never could. Clan loyalty, strength, honor... all that. He felt like he had to make a choice.
As a person, Spiderleg is torn in many directions by all of the things that happened to him. His head-of-construction father, his educator mother, his friend who won status by breaking the rules, three dead siblings before his warriorhood, the destruction of his ancestral home, the journey that challenged everything, his mentor Thornclaw, the backfired meeting, ardor for Daisy, crashing down with unwanted kits...
His consistent trait is that he's easily swept up in whatever fills him with the most passion, tossing himself into things until a bubbling sense of disgust makes him break it off. Regardless of if it was the good thing to do or not.
Religious euphoria and self-flagellation just seems to stabilize that impulse, for him.
The last time he was friends with Squilf was during their vigil upon reaching the Lake. They did it together, because they were both long overdue. He thought about Shrewpaw, and wondered if she did too.
But neither one of them broke the silence between them. They still haven't.
RiverClan's first Lake deputy, and world famous cutie pie!
[ID: The BB version of Sedgecreek from Warrior Cats. She is a wood-brown tabby with short, comma-shaped stripes of a darker brown. She is short and her body is long, with a chunky tail.]
Clanmew Name: Kyyrakoshu, nickname Kyyko.
(Kyyra = Sedge, a type of lido grass + Koshu = Creek, a small, shady river)
See Also: The Dragonkin Family, and the RiverClan Family Tree
Mistyfoot realized at the end of BB!TNP that Hawkfrost was not the tiger that lurked within RiverClan. He didn't choose himself as deputy while she was captured, breaking the code in the process. It wasn't his call to defy StarClan's will to delay the Great Journey. It was up to Leopardstar to punish the surviving RiverClan mercenaries who served Mudclaw's insurrection, and overrule the false sign that exiled three cats from her Clan... and she didn't.
Seated atop the stump with the sun setting behind her, Leopardstar's black silhouette invoked Mistyfoot's memory of a powerful cat lording over a pile of bones. Her eyes flashed-- Tigerstar amber, dark forest red. His ideas were an infectious sort of immortal; they will not die unless they are killed.
So with Leopardstar's sudden, 'mysterious' death to a "rogue", Mistystar realized she would need to make a strong, tactical choice of a new deputy. Someone who would be able to help her navigate the tense situation she was in, to balance out the harsh choices she was about to make, to be the honey to her sting.
The choice was obvious. Now, she would have to prepare for the hard work ahead...
[ID: BB!Mistystar and BB!Sedgecreek leaning back to back. Mistystar grimly explains, "someone will die." Sedgecreek interjects, "of fun!!!"]
(Lots more below the cut!)
Personality and Trivia:
She is CHEERFUL! It takes a lot to make Sedgecreek upset!
Always smiling, never loses hope, always tries to see the bright side of every situation.
"A mistake is just a chance to learn what NOT to do!!"
People like her. She's just a super likeable person, the sort of cat who gets along with people you'd never expect.
She has learned that you should listen twice as much as you talk. She's always there to comfort her friends, family, and clanmates. Very approachable personality.
I imagine a lot of RiverClan warriors are "stocky," longer than they are tall, Sedgecreek especially.
She's also got a very thick tail, making her an excellent and sturdy swimmer.
Her favorite food is pike meat, which Greenflower once wooed her with. Not very many RiverClan warriors are bold enough to tangle with pikes.
Imo, Sedge is a super underrated background character. Her apprenticeship under Crookedjaw is super cute and no one ever talks about it!
and BOY OH BOY has her role been expanded in BB!!
Long before the Great Journey was even a consideration, back during TPB…
Sedgecreek was mates with Greenflower. They welcomed their kits, Swallowkit and Beechkit, to the world just before RiverClan and ShadowClan moved to form TigerClan.
Greenflower's sibling, Duckfur, was the honor sire for the couple. Under the Queen's Rights, you don't have to explain where your kittens came from. Sedgecreek gave birth and that's that.
But supporters of Thistle Law do not respect the Queen's Rights.
When Greenflower announced openly that their kittens had been sired by Duckfur, Sedgecreek was uncomfortable, but believed she was keeping their family safe.
But... it turned out to be worse than that.
Greenflower was a true believer. She had been holding a lot of her 'worst' ideas back, but felt emboldened to speak openly with the alliance between Tigerstar and Leopardstar.
Sedgecreek knew Greenflower went to the execution of Stonefur... but she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to.
She couldn't watch an old friend die like that, or stomach the thought of Greenflower reacting to it.
They stayed together for the children, as Sedgecreek staved off the dawning realization that her mate wasn't the cat she thought she was.
It was easy to put it off a little longer, when their next common enemy was BloodClan and RiverClan "returned to normal."
Though they nearly had a blow-out argument over RiverClan refusing to join in with the trading that WindClan and ThunderClan were doing with BloodClan... Sedgecreek apologized, and held her tongue. Suddenly, their roles had been reversed, with Sedgecreek staying quiet to "keep the peace".
Normally very cheerful and outspoken, with friends in other Clans and open-mindedness to cooperation, Sedgecreek spent almost two years of her life just trying to save her mateship. She thought that maybe Greenflower would return to the bold, loyal cat she used to adore, if she just loved her enough and made her feel heard...
But then, during the Great Journey...
Their baby Swallowtail fell in love with a ThunderClan warrior, Rainwhisker.
Greenflower "warned her" about loving cats from other Clans, "Don't make me do something I don't want to, Swallowtail."
Sedgecreek knew how powerful love can be. Rainwhisker was big, handsome, and sweet. She saw a lot of herself in him, and would have approved of him as her son-in-law in a heartbeat
Even though Swallowtail was trying to hide it after that confrontation, Sedgecreek KNEW that Rainwhisker was perfect for her. She knows her daughter better than anyone-- Swallow would never be able to fight it.
But all journey long, Greenflower was growing more and more critical of Swallowtail. Comparing her to her brother Beechfur, constantly questioning her whereabouts, making up stupid tasks to keep her busy.
Sedge and Green were fighting over it, again, but this time Sedge was starting to care less about making up afterwards.
Then, the worst possible thing happened... during the WindClan Civil War, Rainwhisker was killed in battle.
Swallowtail was inconsolable. That brought them all together, for just a little while longer.
But then, Swallowtail discovered she was pregnant. She didn't say anything about the father, and yet Greenflower LOST it. She flew into a frenzy, shouting their daughter down and threatening to disown her. The line that finally broke their mateship was simply,
"Just when it seemed like the problem was solved--"
Sedgecreek didn't even let her finish. How DARE she?? To treat their baby's painful loss, their coming grandchildren, and Swallowtail's right as a Queen, like the continuation of a problem???
So she told her to get out. Quietly at first. Greenflower refused, so she said it louder. Then she shouted it. And then she SCREAMED it, and when THAT didn't work, she THREW her out of the Cleric's den. For SEASONS she had sacrificed for the sake of her children, only for it to end in a choice between her wife and daughter.
But even then, Sedgecreek felt hot with shame that she'd caused such a scene! The whole camp saw her toss Greenflower like a rotten fish!! Sweet, cheerful Sedgecreek!!! It was mortifying, she'd never lost her temper like that, the entire Clan was surprised!
Mistyfoot saw this just like everyone else in RiverClan... and it stood out in her mind, as she shuffled home considering who her deputy would be.
It had to be someone as uncontroversial as possible... Mistyfoot's reputation had been dragged through the mud by Hawkfrost's constant challenges. A sizable portion of RiverClan did not respect her anymore.
So Swansong, her brother and greatest ally, was out of the question. He didn't have a diplomatic bone in his body.
Mosspelt was her sister-in-law, and she needed a deputy who could ward off accusations of nepotism.
Reedwhisker had Skyheart as his mentor, who kept him in an apprenticeship nightmare for over a year. He was too young on top of being ineligible.
But, she needed someone who would understand the threat they faced, and take it seriously. It, hopefully obviously, couldn't be one of her enemies.
And THAT was when she remembered Sedgecreek standing up to Greenflower. How she's everyone's friend, patient and enthusiastic, and yet how she still snapped at her long-time mate.
While no one knows EXACTLY why she snapped except the little family itself, Mistyfoot had a good hunch it was related to Swallowtail claiming Queen's Rights for her litter.
And that is exactly the sort of principled cat she needs by her side.
So... Sedgecreek was perfect. She was diplomatic, friendly, and yet, able to stand up for herself, ready to fight for the Clan they deserved. Her upbeat personality would be a perfect compliment to Mistystar's dour, serious one. This was the best possible choice.
During BB!OotS, Sedgecreek was targeted for replacement by the Dark Forest demons. While they managed to kill several of their targets and even cause ShadowClan to fall, Sedgecreek managed to escape an attempt on her life. But, before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, she took it as a sign to step down so that someone younger could take over. By this point, she had become a great-grandmother and was beginning to feel her age.
Reedwhisker takes her place as deputy, and she's able to live out the last of her days in the Elder's Den. She peacefully passes away at some point in AVoS, surrounded by the family she chose to stand beside.
