Midnightclan; Moon 2

Midnightclan; Moon 2

Cavestar stared out over the camp, sheltered by cave walls, intertwining vines and the occasional thicket of weaved brambles and branches. Midnightclan camp was beautiful, no cat could deny. Cavestar couldn’t enjoy the view though, not with his troubled mind. He stretched, muscles rippling under his dark brown pelt, striped with thick black stripes, before he started down from the ledge that held his den.

With a thud, Cavestar landed on the floor of camp, longfurred tail drifting along the dusty ground and he padded forward. There was something bothering him. Was this a good idea? This clan? He recalled the day he stood before his former leader, calling for cats to join him and leave the wretched place. Few had dared join him. He shook his head. Of course, his former clan was… bad to say the least, but there had been order. Cavestar lifted his yellow-green gaze from the ground and looked over his cats as he slowly walked by. How could he ever protect them all?

He passed Branchdapple, who was watching over Bluffkit and Skykit. He slowed, though he wasn’t moving at all fast before, to hear what they were talking about.

“Bluffkit, how can you NOT be excited?” Skykit mewed, “You’re going to be an apprentice next moon! If it were me, I’d be bouncing off the walls with excitement!”

A purr of amusement escaped Branchdapple. “You already are Skykit!”

It was true, the gray she-kit was hopping around the brown tabby warrior and her white and gray denmate with unrestrained excitement. She fumbled a bit at Branchdapple’s comment and gave the warrior a sheepish grin.

Bluffkit however, didn’t seem all that enthused. “I know Skykit… but I’ll be so lonely! I’ll be the only apprentice in the clan.”

“Don’t think of it like that Bluffkit, think of it like… you’ll be the first ever apprentice of Midnightclan! That’s a big thing! Right Branchdapple?” Skykit turned her blue gaze to the brown warrior, but she was focused on their leader.

“Cavestar! I didn’t notice you! You’d think I would have heard you coming considering those big paws of yours!” A teasing smile played on her face, and Cavestar returned it with a chuckle.

“I suppose that would be the assumption, wouldn’t it?”

Skykit had stopped to look at Cavestar, enthusiasm replaced by a nervous smile. Bluffkit nodded politely to the leader, still not over the apprehension of the lonely apprentice-den.

Cavestar nodded to the group, and started off again, lumbering along. He would have to choose a mentor for Bluffkit. But who? There were several experienced warriors in Snipclaw, Drydapple, and Wildpelt, but how could he know for sure that they were right for Bluffkit? A cat’s mentor could shape a lot about them. He frowned. He wasn’t sure what he thought of himself being in such a position of power.

Cavestar’s ear twitched as he heard Wildpelt and Nutback, his deputy, talking. They were lazing in a rare spot of sun, apparently done with their duties for the day. Hazelspot had her head rested on Nutback’s… well, back. The medicine cat wasn't paying attention to the conversation, and seemed to be lost in thought, though likely not as deep as Cavestar’s by the look on her face.

“Who do you think Cavestar will choose to mentor Bluffkit?” Nutback asked Wildpelt.

“I’m not sure. You never can be too sure with these things.” The older calico she-cat had her white paws neatly tucked under her body. “I’m sure whoever he chooses will be the right cat though”

Nutback nodded then mewed, “When do you think we’ll have more kits in the clan? I mean, I know we’ve only been an official clan for two moons, but I miss having little paws running around!”

“It would also be good for the clan’s expansion. I doubt Torrentclan will soon forget what we did anytime soon… we need more paws if we’re to properly defend ourselves… that being said I’m not sure when exactly we’ll have more kits.. But I’d like to have some myself.”

Nutback and Hazelspot’s ears perked with interest, perhaps the light brown medicine cat was listening after all. “Really?” The gray deputy meowed with interest. “Is there any cat you’d like to have them with?” A mischievous purr escaped from her throat.

Wildpelt shook her head with a small smile. “No, no cat has caught my eye yet. I’d just like to have kits. I’m getting older and it’ll be harder to care for them if I’m an elder. I’d just like to have kits before I retire.”

Nutback nodded. “Well, I’m sure either Cavestar or Acornspring would be happy to surrogate.”

Cavestar turned from the conversation. He liked Wildpelt, but perhaps not like that. He continued across the camp before the thought crossed his mind. There were only three toms in the clan, one of whom was a kit. Cavestar frowned again. He might have to take a mate if the clan was going to grow, even if the idea didn’t appeal.

He continued, an odd squirming in his stomach. He shook his head and finally decided to sit down. He looked up. Across the camp from him was Snipclaw, fixing a patch in the walls with brambles. The white and brown she-cat turned as Drydapple passed, and meowed a friendly hello, which the dilute tortie she-cat returned.

Cavestar's ear twitched. He hadn't even considered checking the walls. He shook his head. How could his clan expect him to lead them well if he couldn't remember to make sure the basic tasks were done? Perhaps he had bit off more than he could chew.

Approaching pawsteps drew his eyes upwards. The fluffy body of Drydapple was before him, her pale yellow eyes staring intently at him.

"You seem troubled." She mewed as she settled on her gray haunches. "What's wrong?"

Cavestar looked at her then sighed. "Is this a good idea? There are so few of us, we have a powerful enemy in Torretclan, and I'm inexperienced. I was never a deputy. How can I make sure this clan is safe?"

Drydapple blinked then rolled her eyes. "You're too hard on yourself Cavestar. You're plenty qualified to lead us. Just look at you and Nutback." The two cats looked across camp at the deputy, still chatting with Wildpelt. "She's energetic, sneaky, and I'd say a little unqualified." Drydapple sniffed before continuing. "Leaders like Riverstar will choose cats who will give their undying loyalty to their leader, with barely a thought of their own; those leaders want cats like Wildpelt. But Nutback, she's always been a rather outspoken she-cat. She'll question you, keep you in line. You'll learn from each other. You make the perfect pair."

Cavestar felt flattered. "I.. thank you Drydapple."

She nodded. "Now about your other worries. They're valid that's for sure. We're still small and vulnerable, but that's expected. You can't expect these things to be perfect immediately."

Cavestar slowly nodded, shuffling his pale paws in the dirt. "I needed that Drydapple, thank you."

The gray and cream she-cat nodded before mewing "Now, if you don't mind I need to make dirt. Scuse me."

Cavestar shifted out of the way, not realizing that he had been blocking the dirtplace entrance. He stood, and shook out his fur, he could do this.

A rustling at the camp entrance made him turn. The pale ginger tail of Acornspring, Cavestar's former apprentice, appeared in the tunnel. The young tom stepped back, head down, pulling a very large rabbit into camp.

Everyone turned to look with awe, and Cavestar felt a swell of pride rise in his chest. Prey was running well, the weather was good. They would survive. Midnightclan was thriving.

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the hush of rain / scourge

Fake cover for an au I have called False Fire (wow what a shocker). Basic (rough) premise is that Thunderclan kidnaps Hattie (Yes, FireStar's Quest Hattie) to replace FirePaw after he's found dead. Really rough around the edges but hey, it's coming along

I find the idea of leadership in WC clans working on succession by tanistry to be a really interesting possibility. It could work not only to better justify the amount of nepotism going on but also I think making the clans more explicitly based off celtic clans could help them shave off some of the vaguely Native American-appropriating vibes they carry due to careless worldbuilding and thoughtless use of terminology like "medicine cat".

For the uninitiated, succession by tanistry works thusly: at the ascension of a new chieftain/king, the clan elects their successor, called a tanist. A tanist must be an adult descendant of the previous ruler. Thus, so long as they're of age, the current chieftain/king's siblings, children, niblings, grandchildren, grandniblings, and so on are elligible to inherit.

I'm not working out a full family tree just yet, but pondering how this might apply to ThunderClan as we see it in Into the Wild alone brings up interesting possibilities. For instance:

What are Redtail, Lionheart, and Tigerclaw's relationships to Bluestar? To each other? Presumably, they would've been close family so what does this say about Tigerclaw's ruthlessness in seeking to be elected as tanist/deputy?

Does Fireheart's ascent to deputyship thus imply he was adopted by Bluestar? Did she do it because of the prophecy? Did she think it meant he was supposed to be leader one day? How does this tie to the Clans' views on adoption?

And bringing it a little forward:

Would Brambleclaw, on account that the last leader was Bluestar, still be descended from the last leader and therefore elligible for deputyship? Or would he be too far removed from the direct line to be considered? Could Firestar have adopted him in turn? Or did he end up turning to the DF in frustration at the fact he won't ever be allowed to bring his ambitions to fruition? Was Tigerstar's pitch perhaps "If that kittypet hadn't meddled, I'd be leader right now and you could be deputy"?

Is the Clan perhaps expecting Squirrelpaw be perhaps considered a good candidate for deputy/tanist once she comes of age? Would she fell pressured to grow up into a good candidate? How does she feel about this whole system?

Overall, very interesting stuff. The wheels are turning on my head but I've got more questions than answers at this stage.

Rewriting Briarlight and Longtail’s Deaths

So I am disabled, like very disabled, I am %50 of the teenagers ever diagnosed with my special combination of pain disorders, and I also unfortunately hyper fixated on warrior cats, which is bad news for me because warrior cats is super ableist, and to add insult to injury, the fandom can also be pretty ableist.

My biggest problem with the majority of “anti-ableist” AUs is that they “fix” the ableism stemming from the narrative and able bodied characters by making the disabled character less disabled, this so bad for many reasons. I’ve talked more about in other posts. The justification that real life disabled cats are less doesn’t make it not ableist, since when was warrior cats meant to be realistic? If you’re making an au where the disabled cats function like actual disabled cats you also have to make all the cats genetically accurate, and retcon Lionblaze lifting a tree.

My problem with warrior cats is not that the disabled characters cannot become full conventional warriors, I’d like it if they got to choose what duties the perform instead of being crammed into the medicine den, but I don’t care about Cinderpelt not being able to complete a marathon. Most of the fandom seems to think the issue is that the disabled character are not useful enough, instead of the way that able bodied characters deny of them agency and make remarks like “you wouldn’t want to return to a life like her’s would you?”. Disabled people do not need to be “useful” to be worthy and empowering.

It’s very obvious that most of the fandom just wants the disabled cats to be more palatable to abled bodied people, so I’ve decided to make my own rewrite instead to hopefully make myself feel better. A lot of these things are inspired by my own experiences and not every disabled person is looking for the same things in representation, this is totally self indulgent.

The goal of this AU is to highlight the many unique and valuable aspects disability and how being disabled does not infringe upon anyone’s worth, ever.

- Longtail doesn’t die in the storm, Briarpaw is still injured, but he’s found besides her, trying his best to help her cling to life.

- after Briarpaw begins to recover he stands up to Millie and other cats insulting her quality of life, he says her journey will be hard, but it is one worth taking.

- She asks him why he’s an elder, and he decides to request to have his warrior ship restored as Briarpaw is dreading the life of an elder.

- On his first patrol the cats accompanying him insist on speaking to him in an incredibly infantilism tone, and whispering amongst themselves over what he can or can’t do, without consulting him,

- He initially gives up on patrolling after that insufferable experience.

- Briarlight begins to create marks and blobs on the wall of the medicine den using crushed up dead herbs she asks him to retrieve some berries for her, and he complies.

- Jayfeather shows him how he navigates the territory with the help of some of the sighted cats, and Mousefur is quick to volunteer as his guide. He finds her company surprisingly empowering. He realizes that it was not his blindness which was limiting his abilities, but the other cats attitudes.

- Mousefur and Longtail return with mouthful of berries and herbs, Briarlight describes to him what she’s drawing on the side of the den and he helps he mound the materials into paint.

- The cats begin to pop into the medicine den to see Briarlights painting and soon Jayfeather has to kick her out occasionally so they’d stop crowding him, she’s given the walls of camp to decorate instead.

- She begins to illustrate Longtails stories of the old territory and Bloodclan, and this new form of storytelling becomes a tradition amongst Thunderclan.

- because more young cats are aware of the clans history it becomes harder for the dark forest to recruit them, unfortunately, Blossomfall’s resentment towards her sister means she never cared to listen.

- Ivypool is still recruited and trained like in canon, given her relationship with the dark forest was much more emotionally charged and manipulative than just plain lies.

- at a gathering Longtail meets Grasspelt who inquires about Briarlight, Longtail is surprised about how little he knows as the she-cat had mentioned how well they got along as apprentices. Despite Millie nagging him not to tell him the truth about her daughter he does anyways, but puts much more emphasis on how well she’s doing than Millie expected. Grasspelt thinks this sounds really cool and decides that he is going to see her and her paintings, and that nobody can stop him. Longtail makes sure to put any opposing cat in their place, but Briarlight is a very respected Clanmate, so most warriors don’t say anything.

- Briarlight is nervous and doesn’t want to come out of the medicine den at first, but when Grassheart darts into the den holding berries and flowers for her to paint with she quickly warms up to her visitor.

- Grassheart is happy to tell Briarlight that he’s never been able to be a “functioning” warrior, and that he has always imagined that his spirit is shaped different, the medicine cat says his body is normal, but he’s never been able to keep focus in a fight or react as quickly as he should be able to while hunting. (He’s autistic because I say so)

- As dusk nears he’s visually hesitant to return to Riverclan and when Longtail inquires on why he says that he hasn’t felt so “here” for a long time. On the way back he wanders off and comes back with a chipmunk, when returning to Riverclan territory his father, Mintfur, is shocked to see his catch. After talking with his family a bit he realizes that it was the noise from the river that was making him so tense and dissociated, Brackenfur, who was escorting him, notices that he keeps rubbing himself on the ground and wincing.

- For the next couple moons Grasspelt returned to Thunderclan to bring Briarlight plants that only grow in Riverclan territory, he begins trying to fish from the quite lazy stream in their territory and soon both him and Briarlight have got it down.

- Longtail notices the sadness present whenever Grasspelt left and exclaims that it’s rather stupid that he’s living somewhere so unsuited for him just because of words long repeated.

- Grasspelt confesses that he feels the same, but knew he wasn’t supposed to say anything. Briarlight tells Longtail that her and the Riverclan warrior had been thinking of each other as mates for moons.

- Longtail accompanies Jayfeather to the next half moon meeting where he proposes his addition to the warrior code, “no cat should be confined to laws which harm them due to an inherent physical or spiritual difference.” (Cats don’t really know how brains work, so they see mental disabilities as a difference within a cats spirit)

- A moon later the leaders meet to discuss this proposition, it is accepted and Grasspelt makes the journey to Thunderclan for the final time.

- Grasspelt is renamed Grassspirit when becoming a Thunderclan warrior, unlike prior renaming of disabled cats this is a celebration.

- Grassspirit spends most of his time taking care of the elders and kits, he’s incredibly compassionate especially with kits and is able to solve many problems within the nursery.

- When twigkit and Violetkit arrive in Thunderclan Briarlight and Grassspirit help raise them, after Violetkit is taken Briarlight and Twigkit paint her on the side of Thunderclan camp.

- Briarlight still gets sick and her illness progresses without any treatment, Grassspirit notices her trying to hide it and when Longtail finds out he’s very upset. Jayfeather frantically treats her, expressing his frustration that she didn’t tell them sooner, the second Millie steps out she breaks down and explains that she just wanted to deal with it herself, and perhaps if she were successful Millie would finally treat her like an adult.

- Longtail gives Millie a stern talking to, he tells her that Briarlight is a warrior of Thunderclan and as her clanmate she should show her some respect.

- Millie is inherently very reactionary, as she had not realized the full extent of her suffocation, but eventually after a couple moons her and Briarlight begin to rekindle their relationship, like adults.

- Blossomfall sees how Brairlight wasn’t basking in their mother’s attention like she imagined, and feels the urge to seek out an actual sisterhood after ignoring Briarlight for moons and moons.

- Briarlight isn’t really mad at her sister, and understands why she felt the way she did. Jayfeather suggests that Blossomfall help Briarlight with her painting, Blossomfall seems put off with the suggestion of being her sister’s assistant.

- The interactions that follow are less than ideal, Blossomfall commends Briarlight’s able friends (Thornclaw, Poppyfrost, Alderheart, etc) for being so nice to her, as if that’s not what friends do. She seems very sad the entire time, sighing when her sister dragged her legs around with her mouth to sit more comfortably, even though she was completely fine. When watching her paint she comments that it’s good she has “something to keep her busy”, and finally she expresses her view, of Briarlight’s injury and her (Blossomfall’s) suffering being all worth it because of her talents, as if her life was not worth living to begin with.

- Briarlight tells her that if that’s truly what she wants she’s going to have to put more effort into understanding and respecting her way of life, and that she won’t apologize for their mother’s actions.

- When Blossomfall has her kits they take a liking to Auntie Briarlight, and Blossomfall seems to have reflected on their past interactions, trusting her sister to watch her kits. Briarlight teases a bit, a subtle way of telling her not to rush things, but they do begin to feel like something close to sisters.

- Right before Briarlight’s Nieces and Nephews are made warriors Longtail dies of Greencough. Throughout the entirety of his sickness he kept his sense of humour, his mean streak, and his immense love for what he had made of his clan.

- At his vigil Grassspirit began whaling like a bird in new-leaf, he insists that the vigil is too sad, and that Longtail wouldn’t want everyone moping around, for Starclan’s sake, his life was good. Standing amongst them, Longtail’s spirit can feel every cat in Thunderclan standing around him, singing the song of a life well lived.

People think "gray morality" in fiction is about Both Sides Are Partly Right Actually but so much more often it's about choices having inescapable negative outcomes that have to be weighed against the benefits, or it's about having to choose between a series of bad options, or it's about making hard decisions about what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve the outcome you believe is good.

So often, I seem to see people angry that a story in a video game didn't present a Good Option with no collateral damage and no negative outcomes whatsoever, and if there are any downsides it's seen as the writers punishing you for the decision, because they see the primary purpose of stories to be moralizing rather than exploring the complexities of human experience. Or they argue that the collateral damage didn't really happen, or that the negative outcomes weren't really that bad actually, and thus miss the point altogether.

And I feel like it's important to remember that a narrative telling you a decision is difficult is not the same thing as the narrative telling you it is wrong.