*Deep inhale* So your Darktail Au... Can you share some hcs weither it be about the floof, his wife, his bio, or adoptive fam. Anything goes.
The boy is almost never in the warriors’ den. You’ll usually either find him sleeping in the leader’s den with his mom and pop or in the nursery with Daisy (occasionally with either of his sisters if he feels they need the extra love).
Leafpool was very nervous as an apprentice and was super worried about treating sick cats. Darktail volunteered himself as patient and let her practice wrapping cobweb on him, putting poultices on, etc. Likewise, he may have been the one of the only cats Squirrelflight let know how nervous she was about her warrior assessment, and he regularly took her out and let her practice her battle moves on him until she was more confident in her abilities.
When he was apprenticed, he was super lonely without his mom and sisters to keep him company. On the days that he didn’t sneak into the nursery to sleep, Squirrelkit and Leafkit would be found curled up in his nest in the apprentices’ den. Whitepaw thought this was hilarious and helped them build special nests and they’d often spend more time playing than getting sleep! (There’s many times after the “big reveal” when Squirrelflight and Leafpool are super low, that Darktail rounds them up and they all go find a special den out of camp and have a “sleep over” like when they were kits, Whitewing was invited plenty of times for sure!)
He and Whitepaw were super close and the best of friends. Brightheart was like his second mom and he confided a lot in her. Brightheart seemed to know just the right ways to help the shy kitten feel more comfortable with himself. They built such a rapport that Firestar knew there was no better cat to train his son and she was made his mentor.
When Whitewing’s kits are born, Darktail is all over it! He takes Ivykit and Dovekit everywhere and teaches them how to make the special sleep over nests in the nursery
Darktail never really liked Brambleclaw. There was no particular reason, he just got a bad vibe from the cat. He tried his best to not let his fathers’ insecurities taint him, but he couldn’t really bring himself to really trust the quiet, broody tom, though he never treated him poorly. When Squirrelpaw ran off with him Darktail was horrified and more than a bit livid, it took everything Leafpaw had to convince him that Squirrelpaw was alright and they were doing it for an important reason. He started to slowly warm up to Brambleclaw when he and Squirrelflight became mates, but quickly turned off of him again when they started fighting, and even more when he treated her horribly after the secret came out. He begrudgingly made peace with him when Squirrelflight did, but he never really became friends with the other tom, though they’re absolutely civil with each other.
Darktail always had an underlying fear of Onestar that he never really understood when he was a kitten. Even when his family explained to him what happened and who Onewhisker/star was, this fear remained. Though he learned to hide it well as he matured, cats closest to him could always notice his slightly prickling fur when Onestar was around
Darktail really doesn’t like Spiderleg. Everything about the tom reminds him of Onestar and ignites a very visceral anger in him. It was actually Spiderleg’s dismissal of Toadkit and Rosekit that pushed him into the nursery in the first place. There were many times that Darktail would be out playing with the kits and would actually hiss at Spiderleg if he got too close.
Speaking of Toadkit and Rosekit, they started calling Darktail Dad before he and Daisy were in a relationship. It was actually the moment that they first called him dad that he and Daisy actually started looking at each other in a new light. Both of them had clear feelings for each other but were too emotionally constipated to voice them lol
Darktail joined Daisy in the nursery after they became mates and became the nursery “dad.” He learned from Leafpool and Jayfeather how to help birthing queens and the best ways to help hurt or sick kits. Toadstep and Rosepetal visit the nursery often as well to play with the kits and will playfully call them their little siblings.
I could go on all day! lol I hope these suffice though!
