#dm!firestar

[mud-castle]

A Queen's Warning

"You're a smart cat, Fireheart, so I'll only say this once. I don't care if you're deputy, leader, or chosen by the Stars themselves. If my boy ever comes home with even a scratch on him, all you'll be is crowfood."

Shame on me for writing DM! Fire and Bramble's relationship as if Bramble's massive lioness of a mom wasn't right there the entire time.

So, Dm!Goldenflower takes Fireheart aside to chat after he's named deputy and the new mentor of Bramblepaw to let him know that if he harms her kit she'll snap his spine like a dry piece of spaghetti and feed him to the buzzards. 10/10 mom, would recommend.

Fire is very hands-off and emotionally distant with Brambeplaw, partially for reasons shown above, but also because he didn't really want to interact with him to begin with.

[mud-castle]

Dm Fireheart actually feeling loved? I know he is a jerk and all but… him feeling loved that is all I want

Firepaw: Get off! Flamepaw: Then say it! Firepaw: I have chores! Fawnpaw: Say it or we start tickling Firepaw: Okay! Okay! ...I'm amazing Flamepaw: Now, was that so hard?

Bluestar can be a pretty...harsh teacher. After a bad day of training, it's nice to have siblings who care.

[mud-castle]

Scenario: the first time Brambleclaw snaps at Firestar

"DON'T YOU CARE?!"

That feeling when you're sad your mom died, so you look for comfort in the closest parental figure you have left only for him to get annoyed that you're interrupting his day with your feelings.

[mud-castle]

DM Firestar deciding to kill Bluestar

Scenario: Fireheart finding/realizing Flamesong fell over the edge of the cliff at the end of DM's Dangerous Path. (Does he ever find out Tigerstar held Flamesong down so the dogs caught up to him, btw?)

"But we must move on from this grief. You will be named deputy in Flamesong's place, and you will take on his apprentice. I will make the announcement at sunset" Bluestar turned to pad away.

"No." his voice was hardly a whisper, but she heard it all the same.

She stopped. "It wasn't a request."

....

Fortunately for you two but unfortunately for Fireheart, those are the same scene.

Also, no, he doesn't find out that Tigerstar held him down.

[mud-castle]

I like that Fire doesn't look particularly surprised, dude was like: "Yup, that's about what I expected from this conversation."

So instead of Bramble being horribly abused, is he just really lonely? Goldenflower can protect him from mistreatment but given that Fire is a dick in this world it doesn't look like anyone would want to interact with him either.

Or well, he is protected while she is alive anyways.

Bramble isn't physically abused. He's more ostracized and neglected which is its form of abuse considering Fireheart is directly responsible for part of it.

Mentors are meant to be almost a second/third parent to an apprentice. They're the adult they spend the most time with through their cat tween and teens. Their responsibility is not just to train them but also help them navigate through life and become functioning, well-rounded adults.

Flamesong, being deputy, takes full responsibility over Bramblepaw when he takes him as his apprentice, essentially staking his reputation on Bramble not being evil. In Dark Mirror, the leader or deputy taking on an apprentice is a huge deal. They're sort of pseudo-candidates for future positions of power. He also sort of makes Bramble part of the Fire fam, to the chagrin of Fireheart.

After Flamesong dies, this responsibility is passed down to Fireheart, who can't really do anything about the situation without risking the name of his late brother.

Bramblepaw wants to be a part of the Fire family and he desperately wants Fireheart's approval. Fireheart doesn't even want to be in the same room as him.

As an effect, Fire is overly critical of Brambepaw but offers little actual help. He looks the other way at the clan's mistreatment of him. Heaven forbid Bramblepaw come to him with personal problems. When they're not in a training session, Bramblepaw is pretty much invisible to him.

All of which, as you might imagine, is not good for Bramble's development. Goldenflower tries her best, but there's only so much she can do. She can keep Fireheart's claws off of him, but she has no way of knowing how he treats him otherwise when they're not in camp. (Though she has a strong idea considering Bramblepaw's self-confidence takes an instant nosedive after he's given to Fireheart).

[mud-castle]

Real questions: When does DM!Goldenflower die? Does Firestar’s treatment of Brambleclaw worsen since she’s gone or is he terrified that she’ll descend from the heavens and rip out his entrails for the buzzards?

She dies in TNP right before the journey. It's what kickstarts Bramble's 'actually the clans really suck' arc. Or rather Fire and the clan's reaction to it does.

Fire is entirely unsympathetic towards Bramble after the fact. For the first time, Bramble snaps on him. He's incredibly lucky Fire already had a lot on his plate and doesn't perceive him as a threat, but he's on thin fucking ice after that.

Firestar mostly doesn't want to have to deal with Brambleclaw at all (ngl he was disappointed when he returned from the sundrown place). He's not a threat and he's not of interest, so as long as Brambleclaw doesn't cause trouble, he doesn't care. Though I guess his treatment does "worsen" in Brambleclaw's eyes when Bramble grieves his mother and he gets annoyed by that. But that's more Bramble finally seeing him for who he is.

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How old were fire/flame/fawn when they were taken? Do they have any memories of their old family, aside from what others have told them?

Very young. Not old enough to be fully weaned and still blue-eyed so about 3-4 weeks or so.

They have about as much memory as Fireheart did in canon when he saw Princess. Enough to itch at their brain and unlock fuzzy memories. But it fades as they get older. So where Princess sees her birth family some moons older than Fireheart was when he first saw Princess, thus at least hinting of something in her mind, Fire doesn't meet Hope officially until he's a star and has no memory left of her.

Also they are not told anything aside from the fact that they were taken from a kittypet.

[mud-castle]

You said Flame was assumed to be the prophecy kit. What’s the situation with that?

Ha, yeah. So Flame and Fire look nearly identical when they're kits. They get more defining features when they age, but they still look like either of them could be the fire in the prophecy.

Not knowing which is which, Bluestar ensures they both have high ranking mentors (she assumes the prophecy is about the future leadership of Thunderclan). Flame is given to Redtail, and Bluestar gives herself Fire. Flame is later given to Goldenflower after Redtail's death.

As the lovely @Bonefall once pointed out, canon Firestar seemed to have gotten a solid amount of his leadership style from Bluestar. Who, in comparison to the other leaders, is much more selfless and righteous... yeah this Bluestar isn't like that. And, as a result, Fire picks up less positive traits from her.

Flame, in comparison, is much kinder. Bluestar high key trains up Fire to eventually become leader as surely he's the one whose got what it takes.

Anyway, when Tigerclaw is discovered, Bluestar is about to make Fireheart deputy. She looks into his eyes and sees...herself. That is what Starclan wants? That is the future of Thunderclan? More of this? Call it a revelation, call it hysteria, but she names Flamesong as the new deputy cause fuck Starclan.

And then Flamesong dies.

The funny thing is... she was right in her moment on high rock the night of Tigerclaw's betrayal. It's too bad even Starclan isn't as all-seeing as they claim.