when rootspring finds out about the after-afterlife, he doesn’t know who to go to. he almost tells tree, but he feels responsible for roping his father into the whole impostor mess. he seems so happy these days now that he has work to do mediating between the clans as they renegotiate the warrior code. why disturb that busy peace?
when he tells violetshine what he can piece together, his mother doesn’t react at first. rootspring is a little put off. this is big news, isn’t it?
violetshine slowly asks him to tell him if he believes all the spirit-killed cats are there. he thinks so, yeah. even rogues? even rogues.
she hasn’t thought much about darktail since she and needletail took him down for the second time. for the first time, she regrets it.
violetshine doesn’t know how to break it to her son that the love of his life is trapped with the worst cat she’s ever known.
Okay so, there are a lot of cats that die and the writers just simply forget about them (for example uhhh ThrushPelt, he had an off-screen death and they never mentioned him again) Are those cats considered double dead?
If yes, I need to know more about ddd!ThrushPelt, I absolutely adore him
Ooh another question! What about Scourge? He's dead but his spirit was never mentioned. Is he considered duble dead?
I think whoever I/we feel like considering double-dead can be double-dead for the sake of the au!
these are both long-ish, so they’re under the cut! thrushpelt is first, then scourge. this is the first time I’ve focused on either of them, so these are introductions to who they are in the duplex au!
ddd!Thrushpelt
I love Thrushpelt too! I’ll say he died the first time before into the wild, and his spirit death was in the last hope battle against the dark forest.
I see him get compared to Mapleshade in terms of the best vs worst ways to react to unrequited (or in Mapleshade’s case, retracted) love. so they’ll be good narrative foils to each other.
Thrushpelt was also a little bit older than Crookedjaw when he was alive, so whenever he finds out about how Mapleshade manipulated him that would affect him a bit.
also, a lot of the cats who were villains to his family specifically are there in the duplex with him. tigerstar, who led the purge of half-clan cats and terrorized bluestar; darkstripe, who killed thrushpelt’s adoptive son stonefur; and pretty much everyone who gave thunderclan trouble in the first arc.
I imagine he’d be protective over firestar from starclan since bluestar took him in, watching over him as well as mistystar. he hated whenever thunderclan and riverclan were in conflict. he takes care of mosskit in starclan, and though he’s sad when stonefur joins their ranks he’s glad to make up for lost time with the adoptive son what earliest, vaguest memories are of being coddled in the nursery by him and bluefur.
he starts off in the duplex on his own — ever the bachelor. there are also a LOT of new residents from both sides of the dark forest battle. he reconnects with Spottedleaf, who was briefly his apprentice way back when. when she needs to complain about Ashfur or gush about Frecklewish, she goes to Thrushpelt.
Thrushpelt is good at coaxing the shyer/more reclusive duplex cats out of their shells. he connects with Redwillow (before he joins Snowtuft and Antpelt), surprising them both.
one night, Thrushpelt finds Darktail wandering the halls. he’s the first cat who manages to speak more than just a few words before the reclusive rogue takes off again. Thrushpelt doesn’t know much about Darktail at first, but he asks, and eventually Darktail tells him about Onestar, about how he should be here too, why isn’t he here?
Thrushpelt doesn’t let on at first that he actually knew Darktail’s father a bit in starclan. Darktail mostly likes to talk about himself, to wallow. to defend his actions. and Thrushpelt is appalled, but he keeps coming back to listen. to be there for him, less of a shoulder to cry on at first and more of an observer, the way you can’t get an awful headline or news clip out of your mind once you see it and you keep going back to learn more.
ddd!Scourge
early on, I said scourge is the landlord of the duplex. I don’t think that quite fits anymore. I’m not sure when he would’ve died his second death — maybe he stayed vengeful as a spirit and came after clan ghosts and starclan cats.
you know what would really hurt? if Jake took down Scourge’s spirit to protect Firestar and the clans — killing one son to protect the other.
Scourge hates to feel inferior, less than, the last choice.
learning that this protective ghost of firestar’s father is his own father too undoes him. his last, fading thought, the realization that the wretched firestar was his brother all along and their father chose him, sets him spiraling into a vengeful rage.
needless to say, he isn’t fun to be around in the duplex.
I didn’t actually intend this, but ddd!Scourge and ddd!Darktail have a lot in common!
they’d probably be rivals who eventually team up in the struggle for Bristlefrost’s radio. it could be Scourge and Darktail vs. Mapleshade and Emberdawn (who turn on each other) vs. Tigerstar, Darkstripe, and Hawkfrost (who changes sides) vs. Bristlefrost’s friends defending and playing keepaway with the radio.
it’s a cozy rainy evening here, and it’s ddd!au time!
I got an ask awhile back about ddd!scourge and ddd!darktail’s duplex abilities. I started writing an answer but the draft disappeared! so anon, these posts are for you even though your ask has vanished into the ether. first up:
ddd!darktail’s powers
I have two ideas for darktail based on his life. one of them is more appealing narratively even though it’s a repeat power:
ability to control others through himself, like he’s his own (hollywood-misconception-of-a) voodou doll (because he’s persuasive and manipulative, and because he drowned onestar by drowning himself too)
or
control over water, like frecklewish (because he drowned so many cats)
my original idea was the first one, but I think it’s a little too dark for the au. also, if darktail can also control water then he and frecklewish can basically have waterbending battles! and maybe even learn to bloodbend...
I’m spitballing here but he could also remove drying ink from someone’s journal or notes left for another cat
I looked back through my ddd!darktail tag and remembered that I said he winds up in this weird one-sided almost-friendship with thrushpelt and I still vibe with that!
and some plot: once news of bristlefrost’s ability to see the living by the lake is discovered, darktail tries to get to her through thrushpelt by tricking him and then by force.
when he fails to recover the radio on his own, darktail strikes up an uneasy alliance with another duplex cat scorned by his father... (spoilers it’s Scourge!)
