#As a warrior she is super close with Brackenfur and Brightheart but also with her mentor

[cat-alyzing]

I was holding out on starting any designs but I know exactly how I wanted her to look and how her arc is going to go soooo I made her design. If Cinder had gained her injury in the later arcs she probably would’ve just had her leg amputated but since they didn’t have the skills during tpb she had it pulled up and wrapped across her back with vines. Also made her a orange speckled bc I love that in designs.

(ID- Cinder is standing to the left with her face titled to the right, her left eye open and looking at the camera with a wide smile and wink. She has a gap tooth and is pretty sleek with spots of jagged fur especially on her legs, head tuft, and tail. She is blue gray with cream on her mane, belly, tail, and on the insides of her legs. White is on her belly and beside the cream. Darker blue is down her back, striped on her tail and legs, and on her paws with it on her eyebrows, ears, and under her eyes in heart like markings. Across her pelt are ginger and cream speckles like cinders. She has pale yellow scalars and deep blue eyes, her left ear is chipped and the fluff in her ears messy semi meant to resemble a fire. Her back leg is tucked in on itself, scars the same color as her ears and nose with vines tying it up to keep it against her side. She has a playful smile. End ID)

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Cinder is bi and ace, female leaning though she never has a mate in her life.

In ATOF she doesn’t become a healer and works hard to recover and become a warrior despite the cats telling her she couldn’t ever. She successfully does and is a big role in driving out Tigerclaw because she deserves to get that guy. Amazed and proud of her success she is named Cinderspark for her always bright nature and perseverance.

As a character she is almost always looking at the bright side but knows what it’s like to be trapped in the dark so she is especially good at helping those in need emotionally. Besides that she’s incredibly hardworking, persistent, and fierce always making sure no one is being picked on or left behind. While she is a little clumsy when it comes to hunting birds because of their speed she’s a master at getting mice because of how light she’s able to step but where she most shines is in battle. Immediately because of her missing leg most scoff at her and just try to bat her aside but when she leaps over and pummels them to the ground it always lights the fire in her belly to win.

She dies the same way as in canon, saving the nursery and is given a honor title at her vigil. Cinderspark the Perseverant. On her grave are daffodils for respect and Sorreltail in deep gratitude names her strongest kitten after the molly.

I want to give her some tale because of how impactful she is despite having a life so short. I kinda like the idea of her being represented by some great animal like a resilient flower or animal.

[troutfur]

Cloudtail/Swiftpaw/Brightpaw, and the tension caused when Cloudtail becomes a warrior and the others don't.

Bright/Cloud/Swift(/Thorn?) is one I've been trying to figure out for a while in terms of what their pfurr dynamic would be like. Because I've already committed to Lionheart/Frostfur/Tigerclaw/Goldenflower. Which means that rather than first cousins Bright and Swift would be raised as myempfurr, father siblings. Although from a legal perspective, so to speak, they'd stop being so when Frostfur declares her two litters were sired by Lionheart, therefore stripping Tigerclaw AND Goldenflower from the pipfurr, father, role.

(Is she telling the truth? Maybe. Maybe not. I won't tell you either way, but if you wanna feel free to speculate.)

I've also been mulling over the specifics of the chronology of births of the three litters born from that particular pfurr before it falls apart. I have the order down, I believe, Brackenfur + Cinderheart -> Swiftpaw + Lynxkit -> Brightheart + Thornclaw. But I still struggle to really conceptualize what would be the ideal age difference between them and the timeframe during which they are born for it to be a) believable, and b) keeping mostly to canon.

Maybe I shouldn't sweat that detail too much but when writing young characters, as WC tends to focus on, I find it particularly important to have a clear idea of development stage and relative maturity. Hence why the brainstorming/pre-planning section of my docs very often has a timeline plotting births and relevant life milestones of key characters relative to plot beats.

Anyway not too much of this is going to be super relevant to the one-shot because these are meant to be very quick-and-dirty, mostly a means to train discipline and get the writing muscles working, but I still wanted to get my thoughts out. (Not to mention writing all this prologue is excellent for procrastrinating!)

(Wanna see me ramble a whole bunch before getting to your damn prompt? Check out my guidelines and submit one. I'm taking submissions all November long. I have enough to last me the month but I always appreciate having more than needed so I can have my pick. Plus we are rather lacking in the female-character centric prompts I wanted to do more of, so ya know. If you want a higher chance of getting chosen.)

“Swift,” Brightpaw said, reaching a paw out to his shoulder from her place in their shared nest. “I’m sure it’s nothing like what you are imagining. Cloudtail is a warrior now. It’s only appropriate of him to not interact with us the way he used to.”

“When has he cared one bit about what’s proper?” he retorted. “When have we for that matter?”

Brightpaw’s ears burned. It was true that she wasn’t supposed to sleep on a nest with anyone other than Thornpaw’s. It could be tolerated if it was a close myem, a sibling, who was close in age but it’d been a long time since the two had stopped being myempfurr in the eyes of Clan customs. And from there to have done so not only with him but with another tom that were they all warriors would be considered a suitable sire for her kits.

“This is more serious,” Brightpaw continued to insist. “Can you imagine the kind of scandal it’d be? Especially with the kind of history Cloudtail has? You’d want him to risk all of that just for us?”

“It’s no excuse to leave us forgotten like crowfood,” Swiftpaw snarled. “Besides, not only is he Bluestar’s newest darling, you’re forgetting we’re older than him, that everyone knows just how much of an unfair promotion that was, that we are just as skilled and just as strong, if not more! Anyone who took issue would be better off picking the thorns out of their nest.”

“Swift!” Brightheart scolded. “You know the Clan is not going to be like that. Not towards him, especially. Just let it go. When we’re warriors he can just court us and it’ll all be like nothing happened.”

“And when exactly is that going to be, Brightpaw?” Swiftpaw challenged. “A moon? A season? A year? Do you really expect us to just sit here idly by until the situation with Bluestar blows over? Do you think that while he has us forgotten and thrown to the wayside he is not going to be getting to know his fellow warriors? That he may not have fully forgotten us?”

“Oh, now you’re just assuming the worst possible outcome without any real proof,” Brightpaw complained.

“You said it yourself, possible outcome,” Swiftpaw retorted. “With what’s been happening do you really think that the worst one won’t be the one happening? How many times does it have to happen before you realize? How many times before you take it to heart?”

Brightpaw went silent.

“If Cloudtail will leave us forgotten, so be it, we will too,” Swiftpaw declared. “And if both of us want to stay as empf we need to do something. Something that will prove beyong anyone’s doubts that we are ready, that Bluestar’s judgement was warped, that we can do something to turn this Clan around.”

“What do you even want us to do?” Brightpaw asked.

The whiplash in what he was saying was just palpable. Wouldn’t he more than anyone be aware that even with a hundred assessments passed it ultimately rested in Bluestar whether or not to promote them? Wouldn’t he understand deeply that a cat set in his ways like her be would be unlikely to listen to his concerns? Wasn’t he the one wanting to sever from her ‘newest darling’ as he put it?

“We need to fight those dogs,” Swiftpaw declared.

Brightpaw’s eyes opened and she rose to her feet to stand in front of her empf. “No.” She stomped a foot down for emphasis. “No, no, and no. I’m not going to be agreeing to this. You’ve just got to forget this idea. Even with an expertly organized patrol this would be a risky mission but as an apprentice to put on this--”

“Brightpaw do we have another choice?” Swiftpaw challenged. “We’re practically warriors and we need to act like it. Moreso with such a paralyzed leadership over us. If a brat like Cloudtail can just strut around with respect by putting the shallowest act, imagine what we could obtain by actually doing an act of service to the warrior code.”

Brightpaw once again went silent and Swiftpaw rubbed across her neck in reassurance. “You’re more capable than you give yourself credit for, Brightpaw. Let’s prove that to everyone.”

It was a conversation that was forever burned into Brightheart’s memory.

[lesbiansandstorm]

redid my warriors au, long post

i’ve made a few posts about this au before but i’ve changed things

series 1

events of into the wild are basically the same,(i.e. firepaw joining clan etc) however sandpaw and dustpaw are the main characters

after ravenpaw’s departure, firepaw, dustpaw, and sandpaw realise tigerclaw is a threat, put aside their differences and eventually the three become best friends™

graystripe is a little bit older than them (about the same age as longtail) and was trained/manipulated by tigerclaw

the three get their warrior names and are happily doing warrior things until about 12 moons later

tigerclaw murders bluestar; he becomes leader of thunderclan and isn’t sure whether to pick darkstripe or graystripe as deputy, he encourages the two toms to fight and prove themselves

graystripe wins, tigerstar disposes of darkstripe

sandstorm + friends talk to whitestorm about their suspicions, he believes them and encourages them to tell the rest of the clan (-tigerstar and his friends)

the clan, after some convincing believe tigerstar is a bad dude and try to think of a plan to get rid of him

they have to be careful as tigerstar has a group of cats that are like bodyguards to him - former rogues that dont take warrior names or participate in clan duties (that turn out to be bloodclan spies)

but wait! there’s more! tigerbutt takes over riverclan after crookedstar’s death, the thunderclan cats wonder if they should tell leopardfur about tigerstar’s evilness - will she believe and side with them?

spoiler: she does and immediately tries to break their alliance, but seeming she wasn’t able to get her nine lives or name she is no more powerful than any other warrior and tigerstar threatens to murder her clanmates so she backs down

fireheart’s personality is a bit different to canon - he’s more easygoing and chilled (think of a mix between canon firestar, graystripe, and brackenfur)

silverstream and graystipe have a one night stand type thing causing her to fall pregnant

silverstream doesnt want anything more to do with him and doesnt want the kits to know he’s the father

some of her clanmates turn on her (even though both clans are all living together its very crowded) so she ends up making friends with the thunderclan cats

specifically sandstorm

they become very good friends

yep...just gals....being pals...

the main character squad (sandstorm, dustpelt, fireheart, and now silverstream and cinderpelt) realise they need tigerstar to trust them or they might just end up ‘accidentally’ murdered

he hates fireheart because he was a kittypet, thinks dustpelt is too short tempered...so then there’s sand™

sandstorm fools tigerstar and graystripe into thinking she’s on their side, and reports back their plans to the other cats

tigerstar exiles goldenflower because she doesn’t want to be his mate anymore and refuses his advances - tawnypaw goes with her and they flee to shadowclan where goldenflower later dies of carrionplace disease

graystripe is killed in a battle against shadowclan and windclan, and sandstorm is named deputy as tigerstar thinks he can trust her (surprise! sandstorm was surprised..)

silverstream survives her kitting

ferncloud is closer in age to dustpelt and they arent related

fast forward another 6 moons, the stress of having to suck up to tigerstar yet prove she is still loyal to the other cats is getting to sandstorm

some of the riverclan cats are accusing her of really being on tigerstar’s side

knock knock get the door its bloodclan

one night, tigerstar tries to use bloodclan to take over shadow and windclan

scourge murders him - sandstorm reveals the truth about tigerstar to everyone

riverclan finally go back to their territory and leopardstar gets her nine lives that night

sandstorm is unsure if she’s fit to be leader - she’s struggling as she feels she hasnt been a warrior long enough and her deputyship was a result of deceiving tigerstar

silverstream makes the difficult decision decides to stay in thunderclan as her ‘friendship’ with sandstorm would make it hard for her to stay loyal to riverclan, her kits, featherpaw and stormpaw go to riverclan and are raised there

the night after tigerstar’s death, sandstorm gets her nine lives from starclan (goldenflower - protection, brindleface - love, crookedstar - determination, snowkit - hope, thistleclaw - fierceness spottedleaf - wise judgement, bluestar - faith, lionheart - courage, redtail - loyalty)

whitestorm is appointed deputy

the four clans join together to fight bloodclan, they win, but not without a cost - whitestorm dies, sandstar loses a life

sandstar struggles to choose between fireheart and dustpelt for deputy, the two toms are her closest friends and best warriors

she eventually chooses dustpelt - fireheart doesn’t mind and continues to support them

a moon after the battle, sandstar tells silverstream she loves her

silverstream loves her back

gays

sandstar and fireheart are still super close best friends, but theres nothing romantic between them though he fathers her kits, squirrelkit and leafkit as they both wanted to be parents

squirrelflight and leafpool are raised by sandstar, fireheart, and silverstream and the whole clan loves them

basically sandstar, fireheart, silverstream, dustpelt, and cinderpelt are best friends for life and all of them are gay in one way or another

new prophecy:

as a leader, sandstar is a little less hesitant to cross borders to help other clans like firestar would, but is still willing to provide assistance when others are in need

she is more sure of herself and more confident in her decisions compared to the first series

leafpool is openly bi

feathertail and crowfeather have more of a sibling relationship

fireheart is captured by twolegs

sandstar and dustpelt usually rely on fireheart to help them with leader/deputy duties

so dustpelt begins to assign more duties to brambleclaw, given his experience with the sun-drown-place journey

hawkfrost traps sandstar in the fox trap and encourages brambleclaw to kill her, stating that if she dies dustpelt will surely choose him for deputy, and he can get rid of him too

he doesn’t because he is a good dude

cinderpelt dies and cinderkit is born but cinderkit is herself and not a reincarnation

power of three

fireheart returns! with millie 

bumblekit is blind in one eye due to an infected thorn scratch - it doesnt stop him though - he is apprenticed to brightheart

rowanclaw is a trans dude - his and tawnypelt’s kits are fathered by an unknown tom

sandstar and silverstream are close with their grandkits

lionblaze and jayfeather are the kits of brambleclaw and squirrelflight, hollyleaf and breezepelt are leafpool and crowfeather’s

leafpool has her kits (she could hide it due to having strong scented herbs around her and shes fat and fluffy) but is weakened and feels squirrelflight is kitting (remember that bond they had)

crowfeather shows up and takes breezekit to windclan as leafpool cant carry both of them - nightcloud has also kitted an identical kit but its born dead so crowfeather kinda just swaps them (nightcloud agrees to this bc she wanted to be a mother)

leafpool gives hollykit to squirrelflight to raise

sandstar suspects hollyleaf is leafpool’s kit due to her resemblance to crowfeather and the fact that she guessed leafpool’s pregnancy anyway

the fire scene: jayfeather is trapped, hollyleaf helps him out but becomes stuck herself, assfur shows up and says he’ll kill her to cause squirrelflight pain

leading to squirrelflight’s ‘she is not my kit’

lion holly jay assume she lied to get assfur away, lionblaze asks squirrelflight privately if shes his mother, she says yes which is true  

as in she said yes she is lionblaze’s mother, says nothing about hollyleaf

assfur intends to reveal the secret at the gathering but shows up dead

sandstar killed him - she found him on the windclan border, he confronted her saying her daughter was a liar and he threatens her, saying he will reveal the secret to everyone - sandstar warns him, saying he shouldnt for the good of the clan

this enrages assfur, who attacks sandstar

sandstar kicks his ass and kills him, though she is overwhelmed with guilt, thinking that she let her emotions get in the way of what was right for the clan

breezepelt discovers his true parentage and reveals the secret, hollyleaf is so shocked that she runs into the tunnels and ‘dies’ 

crowfeather is rejected by his clanmates and ends up leaving windclan, becoming a rogue

lionblaze and jayfeather are understandably shocked, they still consider hollyleaf their sister anyway 

breezepelt’s revelation and disgust at his parentage boosts his status in windclan

omen of the stars

dovebriar is a thing, tigerheart who?

hollyleaf returns. as crowfeather is gone, she doesnt feel much connection to her birth parents. shes still close with lion and jay but not with squirrel and leaf

shes not as mad at them though, she understands why they did what they did but she feels hurt that she was lied to for so long and wishes to get to know breezepelt better 

breezepelt doesnt want much to do with her

the series is pretty much the same except for the last hope

silverstream dies along with mousefur and ferncloud

sandstar and fireheart work together to kill tigerstar

sandstar narrowly survives, but wishes she hadnt due to her mate and sister dying - she is on her last life

she stays in her den, depressed, and doesnt bother to check in on her clanmates or issue orders for camp rebuilding

an also-heartbroken dustpelt struggles to keep the clan in order

ivypool ends up yelling at sandstar to get her shit together, saying that she may be very sad but the clan still needs her

sandstar eventually gets up and tries to bring thunderclan back to normal, though cats notice she is much less enthusiastic and more withdrawn

a vision of shadows

in between the last book and the apprentice’s quest, dustpelt gets a bad leg injury and voluntarily steps down from his deputy position

he doesn’t join the elders yet though, he just becomes a normal warrior again as he can still perform basic duties

hollyleaf is named deputy

the birth of alderkit + sparkkit cheers sandstar up a bit, she is very close to both of them

sandstar loses her last life in battle, hollyleaf becomes leader

she names ivypool as her deputy

alderpaw goes on his quest, sandstar guides him towards skyclan in his dreams

alderpaw voluntarily becomes a medcat

leafpool returns to her position