#ddd!bristlefrost

[shadowsight]

it would be great to hear about bris for the ddd au!! or snowtuft if youd prefer

for bristlefrost, I think hers would be a superedition called Bristlefrost's Spirit. and it'd be a double meaning w/ how she's a (lost) spirit, but also how she learns to keep her morale up when the various other cats (toms) she's defined herself by (first stemleaf, then rootspring, and also in a non-romantic sense the impostor) are lost to her. she has to figure out she is when she has no clan or mate that needs her. what does she need herself? who is she?

I think snowtuft would have a novella called Snowtuft's Regret or Snowtuft's Memory. he's my favorite "secondary" character in this au so forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but I love the idea of him learning to use his memory-walking powers on himself and his life in the old forest as tigerstar's lackey returns to him full force. at the same time, his friendship with spottedleaf blossoms in the duplex. he's plagued by the thought that she and bristlefrost and all his friends in the duplex would shun him and damn him to just as lonely of a life he had in the dark forest if they found out. when it's too much to bear, he confesses his past to spottedleaf.

and all she has to say is: "I know."

[shadowsight]

For the double dead duplex AU, what if whenever Bristlefrost managed to connect to a living cat their fur started to Bristle! :D

I LOVE this thank you

if Hawkfrost learns to co-opt her ability, would their fur start to frost over? :O

[shadowsight]

thinking about ddd!hawkfrost hiding tadpole from tigerstar and his gang for as long as he can before ultimately bringing it to bristlefrost and her roommates because he knows they'll keep him safe for him even though they have no reason to trust him

and then they just. have a baby in the house

[shadowsight]

you know how tree got his six-toedness from his father? I’m picturing root in the duplex picking up knitting as a hobby and using his extra digits to hold the needles. he makes a scarf for bristlefrost to “welcome her to the family,” and that gives her a lot of closure.

[shadowsight]

also bris is straight t4t with root me thinks

if anyone was listening in on this room I'm sitting in you'd just hear my hard drive whirring and over it just me going "oh so true"

t4t bristleroot.... very good (I already have a trans rootspring and tree headcanon so I love that)

trans bristlefrost... agender bristlefrost especially... very good

[shadowsight]

placing bristlefrost in ur inbox gently

ack I never did these! bristlefrost is one of those characters that I started liking a lot after her story was over in canon. largely because of her (imo) really unique and impactful send-off. she'd kind of lost my interest once her chapters stopped being about being conflicted over the impostor and started being about rootspring instead, but they won me back once they remembered that she's her own character. iirc they also made her a strategist in the df battle against ashfur which is a role we don't get to see a lot? usually cats are just super strong or super loyal, but she's both of those and she got to be the brains of the operation.

I also really like her in my ddd!au (which I haven't updated a ton but it still has a fond place in my heart!) I like her being this unofficial adoptee of a bunch of outcasts. redwillow, antpelt, and snowtuft are bristlefrost's dads/uncles and that makes 0 sense in canon and makes complete sense here

last thing: the "searching for her and finding her dying dream of a long and happy life" thing rules. best part of alitm

[shadowsight]

I’ve always imagined that in the battle with the dark forest, Mapleshade’s kits died.

It would be horribly ironic if one of her trainees killed them, like Ivypool or Hollowflight (probably on accident though, I imagine they’d be super on edge). Maybe someone was coming to attack Maple. And her kits, despite everything, wanted to help their mom.

So it led me down the thought process of what would happen if a kit or apprentice showed up in the duplex? And what kind of abilities would be given to them?

:(

I've been thinking about Mapleshade's kits in StarClan. maybe someone took them in. I imagine the rest of StarClan shielding them from their mother's actions. It must've been confusing for them as Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk show up one by one in the stars. I imagine Appledusk doesn't know if he should tell them he's their father. At least in StarClan Frecklewish would get the chance to apologize to them.

but we're talking about the ddd!au! maybe they fell victim to the environment shifting around. the dark forest changed forms a lot due to Ashfur - maybe the same happens in StarClan. the idea of it being caused by one of Mapleshade's trainees is juicy. it being Ivypool hurts my heart, probably because she's already gone through so much and her pain kind of gets highlighted in my au since there's so much focus on Bristlefrost's state.

there are definitely kits in the au for them to meet! Tadpole is there with Hawkfrost.

maybe Mapleshade's kits are taken in by Spottedleaf and Frecklewish, who were sad that they couldn't have kits of their own or adopt until the kits turned up. Frecklewish definitely recognizes them and hides it from Spotted at first.

I'm not really sure about their abilities though, I'll have to think on that! they lived such short lives so it'd be hard to make them different from each other. maybe they have powers as a group?

[shadowsight]

Do all of your ddd au cats remain in the duplex forever or do some go to starclan..im curious..

I think that the duplex cats can't quite get to starclan but some of them (like bristlefrost) learn to communicate with/scry on starclan over time.

the cats that faded away (rather than being double-killed) can leave the duplex, and maybe that means they can visit starclan! I imagine that means that they can walk around starclan but not be seen by the starclan cats.

[shadowsight]

sitcom that’s just the double-killed cats living in what’s beyond starclan and the dark forest: a shitty apartment building.

bristlefrost, ashfur, and spottedleaf are stuck in a lease together. ashfur never washes dishes. eerie father and son duo tigerstar and hawkfrost live in the unit above and they’re SO loud — are they wrestling 24/7 up there or what? the answer is yes: they spend all their time training and leaving tigerheartstar annoying voicemails

also darkstripe drops in unannounced once an episode. everyone swears they didn’t give him a key how does he keep getting in here

edit: calling it the double death duplex au for now! there are bunch of posts under the tag!

another edit: here’s a masterpost for the double death duplex au! it’s grown into a fullfledged au in the last two weeks, and I’m so excited that folks have taken to it so much. thank you!

[shadowsight]

when rootspring searches for bristlefrost in the earth with his powers, his thoughts play through the old radio in her room in the duplex. he’s the first thing she sees or hears when she arrives there.

[shadowsight]

concept: Ivypool blames herself for Bristlefrost’s permadeath since she lost her daughter to the place she thought she defeated in her youth. She thinks that she cosmically caused her death when she killed Antpelt for the second time.

Bristlefrost and Antpelt meet in the pocket dimension after-afterlife hotel or whatever it is without knowing who the other was in life.

And ultimately they have to get through layers of heaven and hell and this weird motel to get through to Ivypool. to convince her that she deserves to mourn her daughter in peace and go on living.

(inspired by this post)

[shadowsight]

duplex au - abilities

(for my double death duplex au. spoilers for the broken code. I’ll rb this with additions for other characters!)

the idea is that cats who have died twice (spirit deaths) end up in the duplex (which is actually an apartment complex but shh). the duplex cats have unique abilities.

here are the initial three roommates: Bristlefrost, Spottedleaf, and Ashfur.

Bristlefrost: item (radio, probably)

can connect with the living world

I’m imagining she has a console radio that at first only goes one way and it’d hard to tune, but eventually she learns to broadcast outwards and that’s how rootspring receives her peaceful final thoughts (time works differently in the duplex)

could be with a radio or a camera, or a journal/sketchbook, kind of up in the air atm. I like it being a radio because that can start off staticky. plus it works with the idea that the duplex is in a pocket dimension in the center of the earth - which hasn’t been super important to the au so far but is still fun

hers is the most vague so far but that’s okay! I originally wanted her to be the only one without an ability because she’s “meant” to live again rather than stay in the duplex

she can do this because she didn’t have a death and then a spirit death — it happened all at once (same as canon)

discussion in the notes of this post

Spottedleaf: item (perfume/mace)

can summon an old-fashioned perfume bottle

like one of these:

(left image: a pink heart-shaped perfume bottle with flower decorations growing from the base and a pink crystal top. right image: a pink crystal perfume bottle with a puffy thing and tassel on top)

it works both as perfume and mace — changes according to her needs each time she summons it

she may originally only be aware that it’s a weapon and only realized it can be used as something nice later

OR, she’s unaware that it can become a weapon until she’s confronted by someone she despised (probably Darkstripe or Ashfur when he shows up)

idea from this drawing by @vhs-warriors

Ashfur: shapeshifting

can shapeshift and change aspects of his form

his ability is an inversion of his powers over the dark forest: he has control over himself rather than controlling others and his environment (like the trapping the spirit cats and flooding the dark forest)

starts of with minor shape changes and gets more powerful over time. he can also change his fur color so he can give himself highlights lol

doesn’t discover his ability until he realizes his overly controlling nature is a flaw

this growth goes along with him finally doing the dishes

more to come in the reblogs eventually! the tag for this au is #double death duplex au. input/asks are always appreciated!

[shadowsight]

them!!!!!

I love how antpelt’s going along with it but also looks like he’s starting to have fun and just won’t admit it. and I love the fluffy gfs! cute all around 10/10!

[shadowsight]

how about duplex au redwillow? (I got very attached to him in alitm)

I liked him in alitm too!

I think he’d be both sad and glad to see bristlefrost show up at the duplex - sad that she died in the dark forest, but happy to get to see her again! she apologizes for not stopping him from falling in the water, he tells her she has nothing to be sorry for and thanks her for giving him hope and a reason to run instead of giving up. a bittersweet moment for them both.

his “sitcom”/show role would be that upbeat and friendly guy who’s secretly haunted by his past.

the two of them are friends! if any former dark forest cats try to give her trouble, he backs her up and tells them off. he dances around telling her how he died the first time.

but one day/night/time is weird there, they’re hanging out, looking out into nothingness out the window and a light goes off in her head. she’s heard the name redwillow before, before she met him in the dark forest. she’s heard it called out over a silent crowd. she remembers blackstar listing the casualties of the great battle. but how did he end up in the dark forest if he’d died protecting the clans from it?

when he confesses that he actually fought on the side of the dark forest, she runs. she doesn’t want to believe that there’d been something about her close friend she didn’t know, and that it was something so awful.

she warms back up to him slowly. he tells her that he knew her mother. she tells him that it was blackstar who read out his name every gathering. he’s too shocked to speak -- on earth, his last act was telling blackstar it was his time to die. he doesn’t know how to process the fact that the one who killed him was also the one keeping his name alive.

redwillow, bristlefrost, and snowtuft hang out in the lobby together too. they hope that sparrowfeather and maggottail are okay, but they have plans for if the two of them also spirit-die to have the best slumber party ever.

[shadowsight]

I have stuff for the ddd!au that I’ve been sitting on since I don’t have time to write it out all nice! but since the whole au came out of a post I didn’t think twice about I’m just going to list some duplex story moments around bristlefrost’s power and rootspring that have been living in my brain (and my drafts)

• bristlefrost’s power is the radio that lets her tune into the living world, but it’s difficult to control at first

• it’s also time-agnostic and so she hears into the future, the past, or the present at random when she first discovers it

• it might be easier to tune into rootspring (and other cats related to the sisters) since they have a connection to the afterlife

• bristlefrost definitely connects with her ivypool once she has a hold of rootspring. like “pass the you phone! I wanna hear my mom”

• that connection makes the whole “ivypool finds out that bristlefrost is in some sort of afterlife with hawkfrost” moment possible. that could be the first time bristle gets through to ivypool but the line goes dead after since it’s tied to emotions and it shorts out because ivy starts to panic

• there’s room here to work in rootspring and his family — especially after that ask earlier about tree’s dad, root! I like the idea of bristle learning about rootspring’s family and imagining what it’d be like to be a part of it (I’m about to listen to tree’s novella so I’ll have more later)

• also — if I can use the parents to get hawkwing in here that’d be great because I like him a lot after reading his super edition!

• rootspring, unaware at first that bristlefrost still has a connection to the living world, eventually moves on

• she knows, she watches him move on

• rootspring and shadowsight grow close after surviving the impostor and the dark forest together, as well as going through the strained guilty grief that comes from surviving a day that others (especially bristle) didn’t

• it doesn’t take long for them to become close friends, but they take a lot longer to admit that they feel something more

• but they do! and they’re happy together

• (I’m not too pressed about canon compliance but since the code and its interpretation are changing rn, maybe I’ll incorporate that. ideally the medicine cat “no mates” rule gets removed because it sucks)

• eventually, bristlefrost does manage some kind of two-way connection even temporarily and is happy he’s living his life even if it has to be without her.

• bristlefrost didn’t get to join rootspring’s family the way she’d hoped for in life (although they are in their own way still family I’d say!) she’s found a family of her own in the duplex.

• sometimes, a family is a girl and her gay aunts who share a murderer, three uncles who trained in hell together and now just share a cool apartment (oh my god they were roommates), and maybe even the guy who she died killing.

I genuinely hope this doesn’t make any bristleroot shippers upset — that’s part of why I was holding onto this. I just love mess and tragedy and falling apart, and then the slow-going, up and down journey that’s putting yourself back together after.

[shadowsight]

OH about ur ddd au… what do hawkfrost and bristlefrost think of each other? i thought it might be interesting if hawkfrost finds out that she’s ivypool’s daughter and kind of starts looking out for her without even realizing it. like he’s subconsciously trying to make up for the way he treated ivypool by looking after her kit but also idk if hawkfrost would ever get to that point. BUT i am curious

I like the idea of him trying to make up for how he treated Ivypool by helping Bristlefrost! maybe he’d get there after awhile. he probably wouldn’t admit that he’s purposefully helping her for a long time, though. he’d be doing something helpful and then be like “I’m doing this because I wanted to not to help!” and then do something minorly petty to even it out lol

(also, to give context to a later bit: I see ddd!hawkfrost as having thorny plants growing from his fur since brambleclaw/star killed him both times.)

I can’t remember if this is canon but I’m imagining Ivypool didn’t tell any of her kits specifics about her time in the dark forest, at least not until Bristlefrost went there to fight Ashfur. she’d hoped she’d never have to. so Bristlefrost vaguely knows who he is but not that he led her mom to the dark forest (not at first)

Antpelt gets protective of her and thinks Hawkfrost is up to no good. so he and Snowtuft and Redwillow confront Hawkfrost but can’t figure out what he’s up to (because, for once in his life, afterlife, and after-afterlife, he isn’t up to anything.)

Hawkfrost thinks Bristlefrost is a goody-two-shoes when she first arrives at the duplex. but he respects her leadership and her sacrifice as he learns more how she ended up there, the only cat in the duplex to die twice at once.

and when he finds out she was Ivypool’s daughter, that respect morphs into an uncomfortably heavy weight in his stomach. a sense of responsibility that’s foreign to him.

for the first time, Hawkfrost feels guilty.

and as he realizes this, the gnarled, brambly plants in his fur grow little flower buds.

Bristlefrost thinks Hawkfrost is full of hot air. she sees him working out at the gym and doesn’t give him much of a second thought other than “wonder how he sleeps with all those thorns in his fur.” not until someone anonymously starts helping her and her roommates out with little things. something they managed to lose in the vents shows up at their doorstep. and the one time she catches their mysterious helper and sees that it’s Hawkfrost, he’s so defensive and she has no clue why. she asks why he’s going out of his way to help her and he can’t answer. he even doesn’t seem to know himself.

Antpelt tells her more about his own time in the dark forest telling her about Hawkfrost.

Bristlefrost reels from the revelation that her mom killed one of her closest friends. but at the same time, she knows that if Ivypool hadn’t double-killed Antpelt he probably wouldn’t be in the duplex with her now. she feels a lot of conflicting emotions.

she leans on her friends. spottedleaf makes her a hot cup of tea. antpelt reassures her that while it was awful, he’s glad he can be here with her and their friends now.

later on, Antpelt breaks it to her that it was Hawkfrost who brought her mother to the dark forest in the first place.

so she goes from “I can’t believe my mom was a killer” to “the guy in the unit upstairs made my mom into a killer” and that really throws her. she sees red and nearly kicks his door in right then.