also i revived finchkit in my au so she could be sandstorm and longtail’s mom but i think im gonna add a third sibling so that can be the dead one. obviously palebird doesnt need a dead baby to have ppd, but it does make sense for tallstar and finchsong to have a dead sibling to be compared to constantly by their father
-The plants are a physical part of her body. They grow out of her.
-She is the physical embodiment of The Blazing Star.
Story notes: [Abuse CW]
-She was born as a normal kitten to a traveling band of rogues who loved to trade and spread their music. Unfortunately, this band died out to a plague, one that nearly took her own life. Desperate to save his family, her father Carrot traveled to a set of tunnels in Sanctuary Lake rumored to house a reality-bending god. He asked the god for a cure, and the god asked for his eye in return. They made the exchange, and he retrieved a glowing, golden, five pointed flower. However, he was too late to save most of his family, so the entire cure went to his surviving kit. He wasn't expecting her to survive the night given her fragile state and the dubiousness of the exchange...
-But the next morning, she was perfectly fine- great, even. If a little... odd... were those buds growing on her paws...?
-It only got stranger from there. When Carrot ended up finding more cats suffering from the plague, just a few calming purrs from his kit seemed to have them ripe and ready to go the next morning. Carrot understood then what had happened- his kit had become the cure herself. And cats were starting to look towards them more, started begging for her healing, for anything. And Carrot had lost everything... wasn't it time to start winning stuff back?
-And so, the pair became One Eye and Star Flower, for recognition's sake. The two formed their own small group, filled with cats Star Flower had healed. Star Flower loved to spread her magic where she went, to save cats from the brink of death and be showered with their love and appreciation. They felt like they owed a great debt to her, and she enjoyed that.
-She was very close with her father, even if their relationship could be strained. One Eye loved her, but to an extent, he also used her. He grew arrogant in his success, believing he had become the accomplice to a god, and began to hold that over cats who fell sick. He grew desperate for control and Star Flower was his key to that.
-One day, however, her father's group encountered the early clans. They were just beginning to settle down, work out their new rules, and declare borders. But what caught the group's attention was the near murder of a young kittypet, almost mauled to death by proto-SkyClan's leader, Skystar. Unable to heal wounds with her magic, Star Flower managed to bring the cat to a twoleg, who took her away.
-Appalled by the cruelty, Star Flower took a great interest in Skystar's group, and witnessed several of his other crimes against his cats and the other groups. As did One Eye, who, seeing the early signs of a plague, had an idea to put this cat and the other leaders in their place.
-One Eye and Star Flower joined the group, with One Eye acting as a curious loner, flattering Skystar with praise. Skystar enjoyed his company, and so One Eye grew in the rank rather quickly. He also took a great interest in Star Flower and her abilities. After murdering Tom, who insulted the cats and attempted to attack them, One Eye took the chance to take control over the group, overpowering Skystar and using Star Flower's power to keep the remaining cats in line- everything is going to be okay, you'll get your cure... if you stay in line and do as One Eye says.
-This went on for a moon, of Star Flower holding her magic over the heads of her clients to keep their loyalty towards One Eye. She would be lying if she said she didn't feel pride at it all at helping her father.
-Ultimately, One Eye was overthrown and killed when Skystar came back with reinforcements from the other clans. The rest of the rogues they'd accumulated ran off, and suddenly, Star Flower was alone. She'd never been without her father, and running would mean abandoning his grave, which she didn't want. But... this place had been a home to her for some time now, and she needed a place to stay. SkyClan had taken all of the available territory in the area, anyways, and she was in no shape to brave the other territories or twolegplace. So she offered her power to SkyClan as a peace offering and asked for shelter in return.
-Skystar was still sore from the event, but he couldn't deny that having Star Flower as an asset would be beneficial to him in the long run. And around this point, his son Thunderstar had disowned him and split off ThunderClan from SkyClan. He felt that he was losing allies, losing family, and he latched on to desperate Star Flower very quickly- as a cat who would never disobey him.
-Skystar takes Star Flower under his wing as his new child, her new ward, instating her as a medic. And because she is loyal to a fault, she won't disobey a new leader so similar to her father. And so, he pushes her to do humiliating things in front of the camp, ranging from general chores like tick baths, to forcing her to run laps around camp with an injury if she took too long to work her magic. He would take out his frustration from gatherings on her and berate her over the most menial things. He would make her withhold her power to help anyone in the clan who had displeased him. And if Star Flower ever tried to stick up for herself, all he had to do was remind her of what she did, how she helped torment his cats by holding a cure over their heads to help out her father.
-This went on for years, Star Flower becoming more and more despondent. One night, there was a particularly stressful gathering, in which Skystar got into a territorial dispute with Thunderstar over a pack of dogs ravaging the territories. He lost the dispute, came home, and immediately took it out on Star Flower, shouting at and attacking the molly for "taking too much food she didn't deserve". And something in Star Flower finally snapped, and for the first time, she didn't save a life- she took one. And another. And another. As many as what remained in Skystar's soul. She was discovered taking his very last life in his nest, while she was wondering if she could pin it on the dogs. She escaped the camp, and wandered the territory for the rest of her life.
-Unfortunately, while she finally won against Skystar in the moment, it was history who decided the victor. Sparrowstar declared that they couldn't let a tragedy like this happen ever again, and doubled down on banishing rogues. Every rogue-born cat was looked at with suspicion from then on, and as the decades began to pass, Star Flower's story became twisted and bent. As the story is told, a rogue had infiltrated SkyClan's camp asking for help, but had manipulated and charmed the leader with her prowess and rose in the ranks just high enough to take him out and attempt to claim his spot. Her story was used as a cautionary tale against rogues, warning cats against those who would infiltrate the camp and rot it from the inside. Eventually, even her true name was lost to time...
Rotten Flower, Warrior of The Dark Forest
Skystar didn't hesitate to throw her in the depth of the Dark Forest when she died. She wears her mask constantly, trying to keep away from the sickness of the muck. She's embraced the false myth made about her, claiming to have killed a founder for power and prestige. But in reality, it's been so long that she's forgotten her family, her power, her name. She barely even remembers Skystar himself. Though she's admired in the Dark Forest for her achievements, she doesn't hang around anyone, and acts hostile to those who approach her.
Perhaps someone can help her remember who she truly is...?
tbh this depends on whatever happens with her in TBC and if i like it or not, but… kinda tempted to make razorverse dovewing stay with the guardian cats rather than go to shadowclan. and shadowsight/lightleap (?) go with goldenheart to shadowclan while pouncestep stays with her
btw i want there to be a running bit in shadowclan when tawnypelt comes home with feathertail's kits, everyone assumes rowanclaw is the biological father because he's tawnypelt's best friend and was very attentive to her during her pregnancy. this is strengthened when flamekit pops out looking somewhat similar to him.
this is all despite the fact that rowanclaw is a trans man.
like, at first he tries to be honest, "um no I think you're forgetting some things, I can't be the father-" and his clanmates are like "aw don't be shy man :) tawnypelt's a good lady you're very lucky". and since the kits are really halfclan, tawny and rowan decide to run with it (in the process they become an actual couple and rowanclaw is the kits' adopted father)
it culminates when blackstar comes over to address tawnypelt's kits and sees rowanclaw. and his eyes squint a bit at him. rowanclaw shrinks into himself a bit. blackstar looms over him, glowering.
"rowanclaw. i heard you fathered tawnypelt's kittens... despite supposedly not being able to sire kittens at all."
rowan and tawny both look at each other in panic, realizing it was a stupid move to bank on this. rowan goes over escape plans and attacks that could potentially stun blackstar for a moment...
when blackstar pats him on the shoulder, and goes "good for you. a true shadowclan warrior always finds a way to get what he wants."
need to think about my wc au again thats mostly just a mishmash of several ideas rather than focusing on canon. i want to think about cloudbright going to find skyclan and squirrelkit being the one darkstripe tried to poison and that affecting her for the rest of her life….
gonna be honest? taking a female character who's part of her deal was that she didn't want a mate or kits, and having her get knocked up so that the narrative can teach her a lesson is... kinda icky? to say the least. almost meanspirited too, considering how women are treated in this series. feel like the canon thing with her raising the fox cub only for it to turn on her later on already achieves the whole being in her mother shoes stuff way more elegantly. idk.
i get the concern, absolutely, thats also kinda why im tempted to not have her carry anyways. buuuut i will say that this is an au and the drama is mostly just “oh what if dovewing looked like hollyleaf?” and im not really making this a big fleshed out au, its moreso just talking, really. totally get why it doesnt vibe with you though! its an iffy thing and i get it.
although i will say that none of this is done to “punish” hollyleaf narratively. im not quite sure where you got that idea? maybe from the anons, but i dont think ive pushed for that, at least not intentionally. its mostly just tragic irony that she ends up the same as leafpool. that if she were raised differently and couldve been brought up with a healthier mindset, she and willowshine couldve worked something out that worked for them, and their kits wouldnt have to grow up like this. its not a “punishment” so much as it is “good god this situation sucks for everyone involved”.
(altho yeah, like i said, tempted to not have holly carry for that exact reason)
settling on pinestar’s choice for my next liveread ^^ partly bc its highly recommended and partly because i wanna use the opportunity to figure out razorverse!pinestar’s deal.
i already had a rough idea of him never wanting to be leader, but being pressured to because of the dynasty. he never wanted to be leader and becoming a kittypet was an escape for him. (and his kit mistpaw actually joins him when she’s older)
buuuut the kittypet stuff itself isnt figured out yet, i dont think i want him to be jake’s friend bc im tired of jake being in all of these. so this is a nice opportunity to try and work that out