Welcome in! Watch out for the rats, and have fun scrolling. 🐀
Book club: https://fable.co/club/zeldas-book-club-with-zelda113-214145707544
Some notes about blog organization:
I try to keep my blog very organized through the tags. If I reblog a post from a blog that I follow, I’ll put their user in the tags.
Everything else is organized by the post’s content.
If I regularly reblog a project that’s updated on this site, I’ll put the title of the work in the tags.
You’ll also find a lot of content if you search #warriors (the Warriors book series by Erin Hunter), #art, #clangen (a Warriors-inspired open source fan-made game), and #fanart.
Some really cool narratives and projects that I follow are:
Acorn's ClanGen mods - some ClanGen mods, located on the ClanGen Discord server
Ophidia is a horror webcomic written by Razmerry, centered around a group of wild foxes and how they deal with a foreboding omen of the oncoming apocalypse. It updates twice-weekly, on Tuesday and Friday.
You can also read it here on ComicFury.
For supporters on Patreon, you can read up to 5 pages ahead right now!
(Idk if I'll do another bc I feel like its run its course and unlike Scott Cawthon I would like to end my series on a high note! But to everyone who sent in asks or showed support or generally took part I love all of you and had so much fun with this. I might do more in future but I don't want part 4 to hang over me as something I HAVE to do)
Well! This is it! The very last epilogue of "Pinepaw and the Forgotten World"!
This epilogue in particular took me awhile to write, because I had to get it exactly how I wanted. Pinewing and Cormorantleaf's relationship is one of the main focuses of the story, and I really felt I needed to explore it the way it deserved. Especially important to me was showing that despite how much they love each other, there's still a ton of baggage and difficulities they needed to work out. I honestly think it would be unrealistic for two characters with so much trauma to just skip off happily together, but I also wanted to emphasize how they could still reconcile in the end. Not all relationships work out, but Pinewing and Cormorantleaf both felt that the other was extremely important to them, and the relationship was something they both wanted. So they were willing to put in the work of building it back up.
I had a ton of fun drawing older Pinewing and Cormorantleaf. I started doodling Pinewing with full facial hair something like a year ago, and I've been so desperate to finally get it into the comic since. It feels so right for him, like his perfect final form. After a life full of pressure and difficulty Pinewing just wants to be a happy old man who gets to kiss his husband every day, and sometimes profesy the future writ flesh. Goodbye, my little blue cat; I'm gonna miss you.
The title of this epilogue comes from "Mimsy Were The Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett: "They would survive, but they would not know how to swim downstream, to the vaster world of the ocean.”
In the end, the whole project wraps up at 64,501 words, 370 pages, and two and a half years of production time. I started this project expecting it to be a minor thing I occasionally drew on the side, something a few people might find interesting. The enormously positive response has absolutely blown me away and continues to do so, and I am forever so grateful that thousands of people can enjoy and meaningfully relate to this story.
Thank you, as always, to everyone who has commented, shared, reblogged, theorized, made fanart, made fanfiction, told their friends, liked it, or just read it at all. Though I won't go into the specific details, PATFW is an extremely personal and cathartic creation of mine, so the fact that many of you have also told me that it connected with you on an emotional level is genuinely heart-touching. I appreciate all your readership through these years. It means a lot.
I really wanted to play around with the framing device in this story, as I liked imagining the air of mystery that Defiance cultivated while they existed. I don't know who the unnamed narrator in this story is, it can be you if you want.
However with this framing device, I do understand that some of the details may be a little hard to glean, so here's a quick summary of everything that happened with Defiance. Deepdark got chronic wasting disease by eating the crow that had eaten Wild Rose, and at the end of his life he asked Prowl to kill him so he wouldn't die from the disease. In doing so he also killed Prowl, and after their deaths Defiance collapsed into chaos and became destroyed. Spike and Fang left to their own devices, but occasionally visit Deepdark and Prowl's gravesite, and Ranger and Hacksaw left for a nearby town to terrorize housepets.
A couple cameo characters appear from Issue 28, which I've used here in the panel on Page 2. Please refer to Issue 28 for user credits.
Shoutout to Deepdark for being one of my favorite characters I've ever written. He really was a blast to create, and I love how many people responded to his brand of overdramatic evil. Fly high, my freak. I'm planning to create a short comic about his childhood at some point, but I don't know when it'll be. Just be on the lookout!
The title for this story comes from Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God": “So he instituted a rule of fear. The most trivial departure from what he chose to consider the right way of doing things resulted in instant death of half a tribe.”
Oh Cootstorm! A controversial figure within the comic, and one I've gone back and forth on regarding my personal feelings about her. But here at the end, I've landed on the positive side; she's just so much fun to write about, as a self-made tragedy. No matter how awful she is to others, I always wrap back around to pity because of how utterly miserable she makes herself.
The ending of this epilogue is intentionally vague, so I won't be confirming this way or that what Cootstorm does with the rest of her life. That's up to your imagination.
For this epilogue, the title comes from "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang: “Usually, Heptapod B affects just my memory: my consciousness crawls along as it did before, a glowing sliver crawling forward in time, the difference being that the ash of memory lies ahead as well as behind: there is no real combustion.”
I really wanted to play around with the framing device in this story, as I liked imagining the air of mystery that Defiance cultivated while they existed. I don't know who the unnamed narrator in this story is, it can be you if you want.
However with this framing device, I do understand that some of the details may be a little hard to glean, so here's a quick summary of everything that happened with Defiance. Deepdark got chronic wasting disease by eating the crow that had eaten Wild Rose, and at the end of his life he asked Prowl to kill him so he wouldn't die from the disease. In doing so he also killed Prowl, and after their deaths Defiance collapsed into chaos and became destroyed. Spike and Fang left to their own devices, but occasionally visit Deepdark and Prowl's gravesite, and Ranger and Hacksaw left for a nearby town to terrorize housepets.
A couple cameo characters appear from Issue 28, which I've used here in the panel on Page 2. Please refer to Issue 28 for user credits.
Shoutout to Deepdark for being one of my favorite characters I've ever written. He really was a blast to create, and I love how many people responded to his brand of overdramatic evil. Fly high, my freak. I'm planning to create a short comic about his childhood at some point, but I don't know when it'll be. Just be on the lookout!
The title for this story comes from Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God": “So he instituted a rule of fear. The most trivial departure from what he chose to consider the right way of doing things resulted in instant death of half a tribe.”
This is the first epilogue of PATFW! There will be ten of these in total, released every Tuesday and Friday until they're done. The first one here is about Redstar!
I wanted to make a note in the story that Redstar's anxiety has not gone away - it's not something that could be magically fixed by taking a leadership position. But she has learned better ways to cope with her worries, and people that she can lean on. And she's developed a stronger confidence in herself as well!
You may notice the title of this story doesn't come from anywhere in the text. For the epilogues, mostly as a self-indulgent treat to myself, I've taken quotes from some of my favorite science fiction short stories and used part of them as the titles. Not all of the quotes are textually relevant to the epilogues that they're being used for, although some of them are; but they are all impactful/personally meaningful stories to me. PATFW is partially inspired by some of these short stories, as is my whole writing career in general. You can read many of these short stories for free online, and I highly encourage you to check them out.
This one is taken from Isaac Asimov's story "Nightfall": “And now that they were there, the last flash of Beta, the last ruby-red drop of flame flickered feebly over a humanity that had left only stark, universal fear!”
Finally, our apprentices who were once so small have grown into their warrior names! I hope you give Redstar, Pinewing, Cormorantleaf, Daffodilcloud, and Asphodelshine a very hearty welcome. I won't be changing the tags of any of the characters, though, just to preserve continuity.
I've mentioned it before, and it should already be abundantly clear in the comic, but leaders in this comic do not have nine lives. The leader title and oath is purely ceremonial.
This is the second to last issue of PATFW! However, I've been very busy and haven't gotten much time to work on the last one, so it'll likely be a longer than usual time until it comes out. I will be posting it earlier on my Patreon once it's done, but I don't have a good idea of when that will be yet. Please have patience. I want to wrap this story up right.
Here were are; the last proper issue of Pinepaw and the Forgotten World. As I've said before, I have a series of ten epilogues planned which will wrap up all of the main characters' lives, so the comic is not quite done yet. Hence I'll save all the rambly, sappy stuff for that final epilogue.
The epilogues will begin posting on January 7th, and will post twice-weekly on Tuesday and Friday until they're finished. The first three are already available on my Patreon if you're interested.
For now, I just want to say - thank you so much to everyone who has read and shared my comic. It's meant a lot to me. I hope you all liked it.
(dont ask what happened with Moon 1-2 idk either /gen)
While both cant properly hunt for themselves yet, Down and Sage have been doing their best to raid ground nests and snack on anything they can find. Its going as well as you can expect.
Next:
Previous: Moon 0
OLD Original Art below the cut
(im suffering just looking through those silly doodles lol)
Meet our girls! Down (2 moons old) and Sage (barely a moon old)
Down is an orphan that wandered upon a sickly mother and her kitten. After the mother passed and the two of them were left to their own devices, Down named the kitten Sage and the two went on to depend on each other for survival, set to grow up together and be there for each other.
Next: Moon 3
Previous: Cover
OLD Original Art below the cut
You know this is old af when Sage doesnt even get a potato sprite lmao
Goldenstar awoke to a chilly breeze ruffling through her fur and rustling the leaves of the bush she and Scorchplume had been sleeping under. She blinked, setting sunlight playing directly over her eyes, and stretched her legs out in either direction. She hummed pleasantly at the satisfying tension in her back and rolled over to find that Scorchplume was smiling down at her, fully awake.
“‘Morning,” Goldenstar purred, affection swelling in her chest.
“It’s nearly sundown, you dork,” said Scorchplume in a soft, husky voice. She smiled back at Goldenstar in the same kind of intimate ‘stars, I’m lucky’ kind of way and Goldenstar felt like if she weren’t perfectly relaxed in that moment that she might tear up.
“Stars, Scorch…” she said. “I’m so in love with you.” Scorchplume didn’t scold her -- she hadn’t for moons, not unless Goldenstar got really excessive with it.
Instead, she brushed a leaf from Goldenstar’s pelt with her tail and said, surprisingly, “I love you too, dummy.” Goldenstar stared, dumbfounded, eyes welling with tears. Scorchplume blushed, furrowed her brow, and said, “What?”
“You’ve never said that before,” Goldenstar sniffed.
“Well, don’t make it weird,” said Scorch, turning her gaze to the branches of the bush above them.
Goldenstar hurriedly sat up and nuzzled into Scorch’s thick ruff. “Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it weird, it just made me very happy.” She purred reassuringly and rubbed her head against Scorch’s chin. After a moment, Scorch sighed and leaned down to nuzzle her in return.
“Alright,” she said. “That’s good.” Goldenstar chuckled and pressed a few firm licks to Scorchplume’s cheek. Scorch snorted a laugh and pushed her roughly away with both paws then rose to stand.
“Aw, man, you’re leaving?” Goldenstar asked, flopping onto her side.
“I should,” Scorch sighed. “I need to do some hunting practice with Fogpaw, I think.”
“Oh, let’s grab Floodstrike and Lakepaw and make it a group thing!” suggested Goldenstar. “Lakepaw’s really been pushing her battle training lately but I don’t want her to fall behind on hunting.” She stretched again and got up to join Scorchplume. Together, they emerged from the protective shield of the shrubbery into the chilly, leaffall wind and instinctively pressed close against each other for warmth.
“Alright,” shrugged Scorch. “Floodstrike is tolerable at least.”
“Psh, you like him,” Goldenstar teased.
“I like you, Fogpaw, and Yarrowshade,” Scorch insisted. “Everyone else is either a massive pain or an acceptable annoyance.”
“If you say so,” Goldenstar rolled her eyes. They walked briskly back to camp, nestled side by side. When they arrived, Scorchplume went to find Fogpaw and Goldenstar sought out Floodstrike who nodded quickly in agreement at her suggestion. He seemed… worried about something but Goldenstar couldn’t pinpoint what exactly. He called Lakepaw from the elders’ den and they joined with Scorchplume and Fogpaw then headed out to train.
“Let’s try going east,” suggested Goldenstar. “Should be some prey out there.”
“Fine with me,” Floodstrike shrugged and Scorchplume said nothing in the way that Goldenstar knew by now meant agreement.
Fogpaw said brightly, “Let me know if you guys see any wild grass with seeds on it, yeah?”
“Ooh, what for?” chirped Lakepaw.
“I want to do a spell for bountiful prey before leafbare comes,” said Fogpaw. “I need the grass seeds for the spell. Oh! And I need some rocks with good energy, so look for those too.”
“Just don’t let that distract you from what we’re actually looking for,” Scorchplume said sternly. “This is hunting practice, not spell practice.”
“Right,” Fogpaw said. “Sorry, Scorchplume.”
“We can go looking after we finish, right?” asked Lakepaw, looking up at Floodstrike.
He smiled instantly and said, “Sure thing, kiddo. Once we’re done with practice, you can knock yourselves out.”
“Why would we do that?” Fogpaw frowned.
“It means to spend as much energy as you want,” Scorchplume said. “You could knock yourselves out with the effort if you wanted to.”
“Oh, okay,” Fogpaw nodded studiously. Goldenstar smiled and twined her tail with Scorch’s and Scorch raised a brow at her before realizing that had caused a swell of affection upon which she rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, she left her tail twined with Goldenstar’s as they walked.
Once they had gone sufficiently far from camp, Goldenstar had the apprentices drop into hunting crouches and gave them pointers on their form. Fogpaw’s form wasn’t bad, although she had trouble remembering to keep her tail still. Lakepaw on the other hand was still in the rudimentary stages of the technique, learning the proper posture and how to hold her paws tucked underneath her. As it was, she defaulted to a more splayed, battle-like stance which was cute but not ideal for hunting. Luckily, she listened and took direction very well and she improved quickly over their short lesson.
Goldenstar was just sending them out to hunt, when Floodstrike said, “Hey, Goldenstar? Could I talk to you for a second?” His ears displayed a hint of nerves and Goldenstar immediately nodded.
“Yes, of course,” she said. “Scorch, would you mind supervising the girls for a sec?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” said Scorch. With a swish of her tail, she said, “Come on, let’s go. Remember, it’s not a race. We’re practicing good form, not trying to compete with each other.” After a few moments, she and the apprentices had wandered far enough into the grass and Goldenstar turned her undivided attention to her own former apprentice.
“What can I do for you, Floodstrike?” she asked.
Uncharacteristically, Floodstrike squirmed a bit before responding. “It’s- I wanted to ask you about, uh… a girl.” He glanced away and Goldenstar perked her ears in surprise.
“A girl?” she repeated curiously.
“Yeah,” he said, swallowing guiltily. “I, uh, don’t know what to do and thought you could help me.”
“Of course,” Goldenstar nodded, trying to make her face as approachable as possible. “Tell me what’s on your mind. No judgment.”
“Right,” he said with a slight sigh of relief. “Well, uh… You remember Luna, right?”
Goldenstar had to restrain herself from going “ohhhh.”
“I do,” she said. “You and your littermates ran into her very recently, right?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “And she’s, uh… very interested in me.”
“Yeah, I kinda picked that up,” Goldenstar laughed. Floodstrike breathed a laugh along with her.
“Well, I’m… not sure what to do about it,” he said. “Sparrowsway says it would be a huge mistake but Barleybee says that it isn’t breaking the code so long as I keep my loyalties to the Clan and I still don’t even know how I feel and it’s all just so… messy.”
“These things usually are,” she sighed, smiling. “First things first, do you feel any attraction to Luna?”
Floodstrike blushed and said, “Yeah. Yeah, I mean- She’s very pretty and forward and I’ve been-” here, he stopped for a moment, ears pressing backward, then said, in a much softer tone, “having dreams about her? It feels really weird to say outloud but, yeah, she’s extremely attractive.” Goldenstar smiled, pride in her apprentice glowing in her chest. She was honored that he felt comfortable making these kinds of confessions to her.
“That’s great,” she nodded encouragingly. “Is there any romantic attraction as well or is it mostly physical?”
“Uh, I dunno,” he shrugged, scratching at his side with a hind foot. “Maybe? I’ve talked to her like twice. Do people usually want to be romantic with strangers?”
“Some do,” Goldenstar shrugged. “Some only need a short time together, or others, like me, tend to fall for cats who they already consider friends. There’s no ‘normal’ way to feel, everybody’s different.”
“Okay,” Floodstrike frowned and stared through her into the ground, clearly thinking hard. “Yeah, I dunno. All I know is that she gets me, uh, worked up, I guess. And she clearly wants to be with me, she basically said so last time we talked, but also for some reason it made me really uncomfortable. Like I was still very, uh…”
He faltered awkwardly and Goldenstar said, “turned on?”
“Sure,” he blushed darkly and swallowed, looking askance, “but I also felt kind of gross in my stomach and I’ve got no idea why.”
“Mhm,” she said authoritatively. “Attraction isn’t really something you decide to have, it just shows up, so it’s totally normal for your body to get excited while your heart isn’t in it. You remember when we talked about that kind of stuff, right?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “but the thing is, I don’t want to say no, it’s more like something is freaking me out about it and I can’t figure out why. And then even if I did, I still don’t know if it would be a good idea. I don’t want another Mystique situation or anything.”
“Yeah,” Goldenstar grimaced. “That… was not ideal. The good news is that if you are interested in Luna, you can avoid that sort of thing by just talking to her about what you want and if what she wants isn’t the same then you know ahead of time.” That had been Russetfrond’s big mistake, in her opinion. In his rush to keep things secret, he hadn’t gone into the relationship the right way. But then again, relationship was a strong word for it and she had a feeling that no amount of talking would have made them work well together.
“And that would be alright?” Floodstrike asked, his eyes flickering over her features. “I wouldn’t get in trouble or anything?”
“No, not with me at least,” Goldenstar assured him. “Sagetooth and Russetfrond might not like it but there’s never been any rules preventing warriors from having relationships with cats outside the Clan.”
“What if there were kittens?” he pressed.
“If Mystique is to be believed, then usually the twolegs take kittypet kittens away so if you didn’t want them they would be cared for.”
“And if I did?”
Goldenstar perked her ears at that. “Then they would be welcomed into RisingClan. Is that something you think you would want?” She hadn’t expected Floodstrike to have any interest in that, although she could see his love for Lakepaw having opened his eyes to the concept.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I just don’t want to lock myself into any choices right now, you know?”
“I totally get that,” she nodded. “But, yeah, whatever you decide, I don’t think there’s any issues.”
Floodstrike sighed in relief, shoulders slumping. “Okay. That’s good.” He sat for a moment, then grit his teeth and said, “I just wish I knew what I wanted! I usually know what I want immediately and I don’t like how… confusing this is.” Goldenstar laughed a little and bumped her head against his shoulder.
“I get it,” she said. “Maybe I can help you pick it apart. You said you felt gross, was there something she said in specific or-”
“Goldenstar!” Lakepaw’s voice interrupted the moment, causing both Goldenstar and Floodstrike to jump in surprise.
“What is it, Lakepaw?” Goldenstar asked, straightening her posture.
“Scorchplume says you need to come see this!” said Lakepaw.
Goldenstar glanced at Floodstrike, his brows furrowed darkly, and then nodded. “Alright, show me.”
She and Floodstrike followed after Lakepaw, traveling eastward into the grass for a good long stretch until they caught up to Scorchplume and Fogpaw. Scorchplume was sitting up tall to peer over the grass, scanning the horizon, fur prickling and clearly on edge. Fogpaw was studying something on the ground and perked up when they approached.
“We found some magic!” she cried and Scorchplume lashed her tail.
“Hush,” she hissed quietly, “we don’t know where the thing is.”
“What’s going on?” Goldenstar said in the same tone. “What did you find?”
“I told you!” Fogpaw said, softer but not really quiet, “Magic! Look!” She pointed with a paw to some strange patterns drawn in the dirt, an abandoned stick covered in teeth marks, and the scattered pieces of what looked like a snail shell. Goldenstar wasn’t sure what to make of it and stepped closer, opening her mouth to search for any scents on the stick or the shell.
“You smell it, right?” Scorchplume pressed close to her, whispering.
“I do,” Goldenstar scowled. Floodstrike and Lakepaw crowded in to join her.
“What is it?” Floodstrike asked. “It doesn’t smell like anything I’ve ever smelled before.”
“I don’t like it,” Lakepaw scrunched her nose. “It’s scary.”
Goldenstar nodded. “I think it’s a coyote,” she said, leaning in to examine the tooth marks on the stick. “They’re rare here but there were a few that got chased out of SkyClan through here years ago, when I was about Lakepaw’s age.”
“Coyotes?” Scorch’s eyes darkened and she pulled her paws close against her body.
“I’ve never seen one,” Goldenstar said, “but they’re a lot like foxes, only grey-brown and twice the size. It took ten or fifteen cats to effectively drive them out of our territory back then and we still had injuries. You know Songdust’s big scar? She got it from one of the coyotes.”
“Yikers,” Lakepaw gulped, kneading her paws anxiously.
“Wow,” Fogpaw breathed in awe. “And they can do magic? They must be super dangerous.”
“They can’t do magic,” Scorchplume huffed, swishing her tail.
“Yes, they can!” Fogpaw protested. “Look! It was clearly doing some kind of spell here! Why else would it draw these weird markings in the dirt? Why else would it smash these snail shells?”
Scorchplume clenched her jaw in restraint and took a slow deep breath. Clearly, she was having difficulty not snapping at Fogpaw in her stressed out state. Goldenstar couldn’t help but feel another swell of affection for Scorch at that -- she was so proud of her for resisting her instincts in an attempt to be kind to Fogpaw. She had a feeling, Scorch would not have been so kind even this time last year and it made her happy to see her beloved’s growth on display like that.
Gently, she laid her tail over Scorch’s and said, “Whatever it is, this is a serious threat. We should head back to camp and warn the others. I’ll see about getting Songdust to come out and verify the scent.”
“Alright,” Floodstrike said, swishing his tail over the apprentices’ heads as he turned to leave, “You heard her, girls, let's get back to camp.”
“Aye aye, Floody!” Lakepaw sprang to attention and bounced after him. Fogpaw stared at the strange marks for another second before following behind. Goldenstar took another moment to look at them, trying to puzzle out any sort of meaning from them.
“What do you make of these markings?” she asked Scorch who breathed out through her nose before examining them again.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Its not the Folk’s writing… maybe the coyotes have their own symbology…” She traced a paw over one of the symbols. “Maybe they’re leaving a message for the other coyotes?”
“In shapes?” Goldenstar asked. “Why wouldn’t they just leave a scent marking.”
“If they’re like the twolegs,” Scorch said, “they’ve figured out how to convey complicated or sophisticated concepts through shapes like this. Once you learn how to use them, you can communicate as if you were talking.”
“Really…” Goldenstar breathed. “That’s amazing.”
“It’s dangerous,” said Scorchplume. “First we have to worry about Sardine and now this?”
“We’ll be fine,” said Goldenstar. “The Clans have always made it through.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Scorch said. She squinted down her nose at the markings and Goldenstar felt her stomach twisting nervously.
“Come on,” she said. “Let's not fall behind. Who knows how far away the coyote might be.”
UPDATES:
- Goldenstar, Scorchplume, Floodstrike, Fogpaw, and Lakepaw find evidence of a coyote near the border.
