This is a bit of a vague, broad request (so sorry about that!) but do you have any more info on the Dappletail extended family that hasn’t made it to our ears yet? Any masterposts about them or about individual cats like Darkstripe? I loved the Cricketclaw post a lot and I’d love to see more of these complicated goobers!
Sure! But it won't be comprehensive-- I need to make them a whole post like I did for the Dragonkin family over in RiverClan.
I've been calling them Dapplekin lately, but if we zoom out a little further, I've been calling the whole family the "Tawnyrain" line. I think we could call them Rainkin for the example here.
The Rainkin family descends from Rainfur and Tawnyspots. Tawnyspots is now the FATHER of Dappletail and Thrushpelt, bringing him in line with the statement that he was an old deputy when he retired.
Tawnyspots was an old friend of Sunstar. I imagine he also had a ton of apprentices, he was a responsible and nurturing kind of guy.
Rainfur was gorgeous. She was light golden with those lighter "dapple" stripes you see in Dappletail and her kits.
She is also where the humor came from. She loved the CORNIEST jokes. For some reason I just find it very funny that every cat in BB whose prefix is "Rain" gets a sense of humor.
Tawnyspots: "Hey Rainfur!! What did the tired honeysuckle say to the oak? Leaf me alone I'm bushed!"
Rainfur: (WHEEEEEZE)
The family gets the mane from Tawnyspots.
They were just NICE people, y'know? I think Bluestar looks back at them fondly, they were like the super sweet neighbors in the apartment next to you who would bring over extra food in old, stained tupperware.
And that extended to their kids. Dappletail and Thrushpelt are extremely meaningful to Bluestar, the both of them are sweet as overripe blackberries.
Dappletail has a really BAD case of resting bitchface. I channel a bond villain when I draw her or think of her voice.
She loves telling stories and explaining things, because she is good at it.
When Ravenkit and Dustkit's mother died and their uncle was extremely sick, and she'd just lost Featherkit and Darkstripe skeddadled with Graykit, she looked after them.
I think Ravenpaw's love of storytelling comes from her. Unfortunately though, she gave him a great power, as a kid he had a bad habit of Making Shit Up.
It definitely comes from Dappletail, who never says "I don't know." She will hypothesize, speculate, and seek answers, but doesn't use idk.
"Dappletail, where is the tunnelbun?"
"I saw it last shift, Graystripe had it. He probably took it."
Her kits all actually have the same biofather. I don't know who it is though, I imagine she met him after Rosetail told her a secret story about her honor sire in Chelford, but it might be a Clan cat. But he's monochrome gray; all of her kits are the same color as him.
THRUSHPELT meanwhile, ALSO a ball of sunshine,
I wrote a joke about him saying howdy ONCE and it became a core memory. Guy who says howdy.
Thistleclaw: "THIS IS ENGLAND WHY ARE YOU SAYING HOWDYYYY"
"Well howdy doody thistleclaw"
"AUUUGH"
He definitely says Hello in some weird way. Guy who answers the phone with Yellow. Man who says shucks unironically
And then surprises you by being one of ThunderClan's strongest fighters. If you swear in his good Christian Minecraft server he'll fucking gut you
Dappletail is not the stronger twin. Thushpelt is as thick as a twig but you get in a fight with him and you hear Dark Souls
That's part of why Bluestar could never allow ThunderClan to get taken over by Thistleclaw. The strongest fighter... goes on the front lines.
Moonflower was the strongest fighter too, once.
Unlike Dappletail, Thrushpelt also never needed to know the full story. Bluemoon ADORED him. If she was ever about to overshare for his sake, with the thought that he deserved to know, he would stop her.
"If I should know it, I will learn it in StarClan."
When Bluestar picked her first deputy, she knew it had to be him.
And he was a fantastic deputy, and a great uncle. Super supportive guy, calls you Sport and ruffles your mullet.
He got taken out a few weeks after Featherkit, which was devastating to Dappletail. She is comforted, however, by the idea that Thrushpelt can look after her.
I got into Cricketclaw and Darkstripe recently so I'll try not to repeat too much
Cricket and Dapple were actually extremely upset that Graystripe halted the fight over his kits.
Cricketclaw especially, she doesn't give a shit about Crookedstar and his sadness, she would have invited him to Cry About It, "MY nespring"
Dapple is 50% more diplomatic; "Silverstream is gone. Stormkit and Featherkit's family is here."
Feathertail's name makes them both Emotional, she actually has a tail pattern a lot like Dappletail's
On that note, yeah. They both did not want Featherpaw and Stormpaw to go back. They were both actually pretty upset about it
Cricketclaw got in a FIGHT with Mistyfoot for saying they could go home
How dare you even SUGGEST that actually, go back to the Clan that WANTED TO EXECUTE THEM???
I don't think Cricket could compose herself enough to say goodbye, and she was FURIOUS at Featherpaw for taking the offer. Her final words to them was probably just at Stormpaw alone;
"Don't let your sister decide your whole life for you. You'll always be OUR family."
I don't think Stormpaw actually appreciated it much. Stop making this harder! I know this is a bad idea! I have to be there for Featherpaw when this shit all goes south, god damn it!!
Dappletail and Graystripe are sad but supportive of the twins' choice. Cricketclaw is maaaad
And Stormfur and Feathertail... man
Feathertail sees the good in everything, to a fault. She believes it will all work out if we stick together, and that everything that happens is meant to be.
Stormfur does not agree
He watched his whole ass mentor get wasted, PARTIALLY by his uncle.
He saw people he thought where his friends watch his execution, some curious, some cheerful. All of them just watching.
People don't die clean. His blood didn't anoint the earth, it just gushed and choked. There's no such thing as a noble murder
Everyone rejects the Dishonor Title they gave Stonefur, saying that Tigerstar was not ordained by StarClan.
Stormfur doesn't see how that matters. The stars watched, too.
It was Deerfoot, Swansong, Jaggedtooth, Wetfoot, Mosspelt, and others who saved him... and it was normal cats, just like them, who built the Bonehill
So again; what does it matter that Tigerstar wasn't given the authority by StarClan to change his name?
His mentor was named Heartworm. And that is the only angel he prays to.
If they hadn't gone back to RiverClan, Feathertail never would have been chosen for the journey. Never would have died.
And the destruction of the Forest killed his family in ThunderClan. Devastated them. Even Graystripe was taken.
So when Leopardstar nodded at the "sign" Mothwing claimed she saw, when RiverClan hardened in TNP, and when it kicked out the pawful of Tribe cats who had come to help these ingrates get set up in a new territory...
He was done with Clan Culture. There was nothing left here, for him.
I don't even plan for him to be in love with Brook yet, going to the Tribe was about getting the fuck away from all this.
Yes Feathertail's grave is there too, but I think his feelings are super complicated.
Cricketclaw was right, he let her decide his life, and because of her he didn't get to say goodbye to his family. He would have been in ThunderClan, maybe even been able to save some of them.
At the Tribe, he lives in the Cave Ward. The least populated ward, and practically a temple-town.
At first he thought he would be more of a hunter, but he quickly learned he really doesn't like how you hunt in the highlands. It's a VERY leggy activity, lots of hiking, running, coordination. It was different than he expected.
Anyway I'll stop there because I could write an SE on how Stormfur adjusts after his immigration and I would actually be interested in doing it. Like, really take the chance to show how the BB!Tribe works and explore the feelings of moving to a new place.
It's a theme that's personal to me as a writer tbh.
Graystripe meanwhile... he never gets over Silverstream. Not even with Millie. I don't think he realizes it, but he really is always looking for the glimpse of himself in a happier timeline
And boy oh boy does it fuck up his next litter.
I've spoken about them all before and I plan to collect it all in one place at some point, but briefly,
Graystripe can't ever take a side when Millie treats Briarlight poorly, and just ends up enabling Millie's ableism
Millie is frantic over Briarpaw's injury, and says some AWFUL things right to her face, making the entire situation about herself
But Graystripe will be like, "your mother says things she doesn't mean :( she loves you, you know"
He can't deal with the possibility of losing Millie, too. Or any of his kids. It's something that Briarlight and Blossomfall come to realize, with time and wisdom.
Bumblestripe meanwhile... he's not really smart enough to ever realize that. He just keeps breaking himself on trying to get Graystripe to see him
But Gray is ALWAYS seeing his first litter, and comparing them. No milestone goes by where he's not cheerfully bringing up some story of how their older siblings were, how he wishes they could see them.
That's where he goes, in the end. After extreme carnage from the Impostor, Graystripe decided that he wanted to spend the last of his life with Stormfur in the mountain.
(Graystripe's Vow is now Ferncloud's Parting, FERNCLOUD is gonna go confront her brother)
Thankfully, Briarlight had her mentor Honeysnake to help her realize her worth... but Blossomfall and Bumblestripe meander for meaning into really toxic, dangerous places for their whole lives.
Blossomfall trains in the Dark Forest because she feels so alienated and disconnected from the Clan at large, only stopping in the BOTTE in the last wave when she faces up against Briarlight
She confronts Briar, and she just... cocks her eyebrow. "ILL END YOU" "no you won't."
Squirrelflight actually tried to tell Bramblestar to make an exception with his Dishonor Titles for the DF trainees, realizing that that Blossomfall's problem was alienation.
She wanted Blossomfall to be put into a Secondary Apprenticeship, specifically for the Construction Patrol since Dustpelt was killed. Something where she'd see her work pay off, and she'd be helping to take care of the Clan.
But Bramblestar rejected it, because it would be unfair. If everyone else is getting Dishonor Titles she will get one too; she shouldn't be REWARDED for what she did. It's a punishment.
So she was Shredbloom for a while. None of her problems were addressed and she ended up joining The Kin later, eventually being rescued by Heathertail and her plan.
Returning to ThunderClan was on her family's vouch, bringing the kits she'd given birth to in The Kin with her, and she was on THIN ICE
She mouthed off at the Impostor in typical Blossomfall fashion once, early in his reign, and she got hit with a DEVASTATING second Dishonor Title; Clearface.
"Because it would be better off if we could see right through her."
Bumblestripe became one of the Impostor's favorite lackeys, exploiting his failed relationship and resentment of Dovewing
Briarlight was murdered in the dog attack that Sparkpelt barely survived, and Stemleaf is killed in the assassination attempt on the Impostor.
Bumblestripe accompanies the old people, Ferncloud, Cloudtail, and Graystripe, during Ferncloud's Parting. He says goodbye to his dad in the mountain, and finally meets the Famous Stormfur...
And learns that he's just some fucking guy.
You live your whole life trying to hold up to this standard of a distant, unknown brother in the mountains, and then you learn he was Just A Dude all along.
He went further south with Cloudtail and Ferncloud too, to make sure they were safe. They are old and it is a long journey.
And that's where they all are to the current point of BB! In ThunderClan, the active Rainkin Family is Bumblestripe, Blossomfall, Plumstone, and Shellfur, and all of them want to support Spotfur as she raises Stemleaf's children.
They refer to themselves as "Graykin" currently; their last relevant ancestor. In Clan Culture, families tend to split at a grandparent or great-grandparent.