#mallowstep oc

[gingermaple]

cuddle pile <3

[mallowstep]

talking about my oc because i want to

so my blood sugar is doing a Thing and while i wait for that to regulate itself, i figured i'd ramble about my boy mallowstep for a while!

mallowstep, i.e. the title of this blog, is my warriors...oc? he's...not quite a self-insert, but he was the oc i made as a child, altho his backstory has been reworked many, many times, including very recently with inclusion of lore from the sisters.

anyway.

i figure if i type out some words i'll be distracted while i wait for the Good Food to sort itself out. (i'm fine btw. i don't talk about Personal Stuff here mostly but rest assured, i'm fine. just a lil shakey until i eat.)

on that note, my spellchecker is off because hands shakey means i do not want to navigate any way but typing.

right. mallowstep. key points:

he's got a white front left leg. i change the side a lot when i draw him but it's supposed to be left, and all of his paws are white.

i don't want to rework him bc i love him but also his whole deal is very much Impossible i was like eight when i thought of all of this

his vision is shit. he's not blind, but uh, somewhere around 20/400 vision. roughly. he can't see shit, is what i'm saying, he can't see shit.

or okay, so he's blind but in the sense of being "legally blind," not what people think of as blind.

this is because cats don't have opthamalogists. eye doctors. he has no glasses.

he's got a younger brother named deerpaw. same mother, different father. their mother is not around, so mallowstep is stepping in somewhat as a parental figure for deerpaw, but not fully.

he's a medicine cat? did i mention that? by choice. he chose this.

he sees the Ghosts. it's a whole thing with his backstory. but he sees the Ghosts.

his best friend is named kestrelwing (altho i'm considering kestrelsong), and her mate is mossytail. they've got three kits: eaglekit, kitekit, and dawnkit. (whose eventual warrior names are eagleclaw, kiteflower, and dawnstorm. i change those a lot rn tho it's just what i'm feeling at the moment.)

they're skyclan cats.

uhh there's a running joke about how mallowstep could have sired kestrelwing's kits and no one would know.

(he did not.)

deerpaw's eventual warrior name is deerleap.

okay, so...uh, idk?

mallow is born to the sisters, probably in a litter but his story Begins when he's left. he's not born with as bad of vision as he ends up with, so he does okay at first. he meets a cat named jag, who he grows close with.

(this is also in my about page, btw.)

jag and mallow are around the same age, and they're...they've got tallstar/jake vibes, is what i'm saying. (i'm not avoiding saying they're gay, here, but that's the vibe. tallstar and jake are gay in a different way to ravenpaw and barley, is what i'm saying.)

right, so anyway. jag is...fuck i forget his backstory, but he ends up meeting a different traveling group of cats. he falls for a she-cat named violet, and when her group gets ready to leave, he follows.

mallow is pissed. mallow basically writes off jag immediately. his vision is getting worse and worse, and he's pretty convinced he's going to end up blind. jag is like, "but i said you could come with us!" and mallow is like "bruh! i can't! for a very clear and obvious reason, i need to stay in an environment i know!"

so they part ways. they never meet again, this is all like, exposition.

mallow is pissed, but he also is kind of convinced jag is going to come back for him. so he stays where he is, because he just...in a way, he needs to believe that jag will be coming back for him.

the ghosts start talkin' to him, being like, "you should move on," and he's like "fuck no," but eventually they persuade him.

in part because it's becoming obvious he can't take care of himself.

(before you @ me, the most self-insert-y part of this is mallow's disabilities, and i'm not really listing what's wrong with him, because part of his story is figuring out his own limitations.)

anyway, he's a trash hunter, and he's got problems, and the ghosts are like! you know! there's some other cats you can live with. go live with them.

and because this takes place in a weird combination of canon and noncanon lore (the ghosts thing always was a part of his backstory, but when i discovered the sisters, i reframed it as that, and so on. basically, his backstory has been tweaked many, many times, so parts of it don't line up with canon and parts do. just keep that in mind.)

right because this takes place in a weird combo of canon and noncanon lore, mallow ends up w/ skyclan but a completely different set of skyclan cats than canon. i think the leader is dovestar? or rosestar? i don't remember, they're not super important.

so mallow shows up, like, hi! i can see ghosts, and passes out. the medicine cat, oakfrost, takes care of him, he meets kestrelpaw, mossypaw, aspenpaw, and birchpaw (i liked tree names okay?), and they're all good friends.

(aspenpaw and kestrelpaw are littermates, mossypaw and birchpaw are adoptive littermates. aspenpaw and birchpaw don't have much relevance in the story, because they don't.)

okay, mallow agrees to train as a medicine cat, he resolves some ghost issues, he's about a year and a half old, and deer shows up and oh i forgot to explain something, mallow leaves trail markers in case jag follows him back. it's four white stones bc mallow can see white p well and he has four white paws.

right, so deer doesn't know this, but he does know where mallow was left, and he actually is young, he runs away from the sisters because they're moving on, and he wants to find his brother. he's like four moons old. in an mostly unexplained manner, deer figures out the trail, and yeah.

this happens maybe like, two weeks after mallow becomes mallowstep. and the clan is kind of like...another one? but they take him in because well they don't really approve of the sisters and at least deer (now deerkit) is not blind.

(they don't say that part but it's on their mind.)

deer btw is adorable he looks kind of like a fawn. he's a dilute chocolate (which is called fawn but i didn't know that when i named him) ticked tabby, and he's got a white underside, and a white tail tip. they both have that, actually, but mallow doesn't care about his.

(mallow is a silver tabby? did i ever say that part. you can get an idea by looking at my icon, but he also has a lot of browm markings that aren't really shown.

woof okay sorry, you guys can't tell but i can i had to remind someone that no, i very much Need to Eat and you cannot unexpectly change dinner times on me.

right. but i am running out of time, so i'll wrap this up.

deer comes, and becomes deerpaw, we have a bit of a timeskip, kestrelwing is in the nursery, etc...

skyclan needs to leave. the villain was never specified, it can be darktail. the important thing is! they send a scouting party. the plan is, crew one will go, and the rest will leave in three moons. that gives crew one enough time to turn around. they leave a trail behind them a la mallowstep (who doesn't go with them, because, blind. oakfrost goes, she dies before the groups reunite, mallowstep is very sad.)

right, deerpaw goes! he leaves, it's all very symbolic, bc this time mallowstep does follow the trail and he does come back to the one he loves. with also a cute scene in between when skyclan is on its way and mossytail, mallowstep, and kestrelwing are each carrying a kit.

alright, and that's pretty much that. lots of me rambling for no reason. there's a lot of other stuff that happens, kestrelwing is a fun character, etc., but that's the main body of it.

<3

[bird--egg]

I’ve been in a ‘drawing other people’s warriors oc’s’ mood for a bit, so I thought I’d draw @mallowstep‘s namesake and oc. I tried to make them square shaped, not sure how well that came out...

Some of the decisions I made when designing them were just based on Mallowstep’s (the person, not the cat) vibes-like the size of their ears, the particular face patterns and such.

[ailuronymy]

Fic Recs 4/4

Misc

OCs

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10677117/chapters/23638680

Resilience

mandaree1

This author is great at writing OCs. This fic has a WindClan kit that is held hostage in RiverClan until WindClan can produce enough catmint. However, no one has catmint. Petalpaw has to learn to be a medicine cat in a different clan, and deal with her conflicted feelings and loyalties.

------

Afterlife

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3101516/chapters/6719675

Love What is Mortal

Roseatte

Neat fic with amazing art that looks at the afterlife after OOTS. There’s trouble in StarClan, and Hollyleaf is chased into the Dark Forest while Sorreltail has to discover the truth behind Honeyfern’s recent disappearance. Shows the politics in both StarClan and the Dark Forest, and the complicated cats in each.

------

Trope - Evil Med Cat

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14763279/chapters/34140117

Red Pearls

mandaree1

Another OC fic. In this one ShadowClan’s medicine cat is secretly killing cats, and her apprentice, Brightfur, has to try to stop her.

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Abandoned

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15368217/chapters/35661528

Warriors: Path of Stars [TNP Rewrite]

My favourite abandoned fic. A very good TNP rewrite that I still think about. Does some really interesting things.

------

Crackfic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28919955/chapters/70954464

Leafstar’s Home for Misfit and/or Wayward Warriors

Kudossi

Funny take on SkyClan at the lake, and the problems they have. Shows some cultural differences between SkyClan and the other Clans, and is a fun read.

------

Worldbuilding

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2293520

saccharine tithes of love and glory

mallowstep (fencesandfrogs)

In this series, apprentice seers receive some training, then are sent to another Clan to finish the rest. It’s done to prevent conflict between Clans, and ensure that the seer doesn’t have loyalties to any specific Clan or cat. A really interesting AU with great worldbuilding.

[foxstride]

A bit of a year in review for how my fics performed on AO3 in 2021!

(On mobile so not doing ID but I will be repeating all the information in the post below)

2021 was when Into The Wilderness began but AO3 statistics has not included it, so these are all my one-shots really.

Main statistics

11 user subscriptions

137 kudos

13 comment threads (♥️)

21 bookmarks

2 subscriptions (to fics)

15426 words written

1024 hits

These are purely for fics/one-shots I posted in 2021, and thankfully they're also all relevant to Warrior Cats since I don't post fics in other fandoms now.

My top 5 fics by hits are:

every claw finds its way to a heart (Sandstorm & Longtail)

fire in my lungs, can't bite the devil on my tongue, oh no (Bluefur & Sunfall)

let us never look down on one another (Skyheart POV)

the stars could have mourned (Stonefur POV)

darkness tastes like honey (Redtail/Tigerclaw)

Not included are: drowning in choices (Yellowfang POV) & with stars in your paws and peace in your heart (Mosspaw POV)

Other statistics

My longest fic in 2021 was fire in my lungs at 4425 words

fire in my lungs and darkness tastes like honey both had 1 subscriber

every claw finds its way to a heart was bookmarked 7 times

4 comment threads were made on the stars could have mourned

42 kudos was given to every claw finds its way to a heart

Commentary

I think every claw finds its way to a heart is the fic that was rec'd the most (by @mallowstep lmao, thank you for that) which definitely lines up with those stats.

I'm curious what my most used tags were but typing this on mobile is infuriating me so I'll check that out later.

I'm the most proud of every claw finds its way to a heart; darkness tastes like honey; and fire in my lungs, can't bite the devil on my tongue, oh no. But I think let us never look down on one another is my most underrated fic? But I also feel strongly about it because it's my first real POV of a disabled character.

Also I can tell this without looking it up but Blackclaw made the most appearances in my fics. He's in at least 3, with two major roles and one cameo.

2022 goals

I have one major fic that's already written and is an Into The Wilderness tie-in so can't be posted yet which I'm REALLY excited to post and see what people think. It's a two-parter which I'll post as two chapters, because each part is the same scene from two different POVs.

I want to continue writing content for rarepairs. I have a few in mind but no solid ideas just yet.

Most of my writing is for Into The Wilderness so most one-shots are tie-ins in some manner, but I do tag when I do Canon-Compliant fics that are also tie-ins. There will probably be less Canon-Compliant scenes the further we get into posting @embersoftheforest content.

One character I really want to write the POV of this year is Bristleblink, who is a semi-OC in WindClan.

I want to write more polyamorous and disabled representation as well - I'm not sure if Skyheart will get another fic but I do plan on a Cinderfur fic eventually.

I haven't actually written any WindClan POVs so that's a must. Gotta add to the WindClan appreciation collection ;)

My other goal is to really try and push the disabled representation collection - whether it means getting more people writing for it or adding prompts. Which hopefully I can fulfill a bit too.

Recs

Finally! These are some of my recs from 2021 that I really, really recommend you read. These are ones I read in 2021, as opposed to were posted in 2021.

blood and water (Feathertail/Hawkfrost)

prayers to medea (Leopardfur/Tigerclaw)

the world might cut you down again (Fireheart & Longtail)

denouncement (Leopardfur/Tigerclaw)

Tigerstar's forfeit (Tigerclaw)

... and a lot more, but these ones I bookmarked specifically to rec them last year. I also recommend every work posted to the disabled warrior cats representation collection!

That's all for now - I'll try to remember to check what tags I used the most later, but it's not As fun as looking at these statistics.

[gingermaple]

gay cat dads

[gingermaple]

sorrelfeather and fennelclaw's sister! she's the responsible sibling

[bird--egg]

Okay! Some more fanart from @mallowstep fic Ashes! I attempted to do Leafpool’s litter/Squirrelflight’s second litter (adopted). I tried really hard to follow Mallow’s descriptions of them but they might be slightly off due to me not knowing much about cat genetics.

So from left to right, top to bottom: Chickadeekit, Snailkit, Cricketkit and Marigoldkit. They’re pictured younger than they are in the story because I wanted to draw babies (so that’s why they all have blue eyes).

Link to description: https://mallowstep.tumblr.com/post/654757223283687424/hi-i-was-planning-on-making-some-fanart-for-your

[mallowstep]

(free time; sibling bonding; leaffall)

"Mallowstep!" Deerpaw cried. "Mallowstep, come look!"

Mallowstep yawned. "Deerpaw, if this is just another leaf..." he grumbled, stretching out his back and walking across camp.

"This one is cool," Deerpaw said, pointing to it with his paw.

"It's just a maple leaf."

"Yeah, but look -- it's a different colour."

"Right. That's what happens in leaffall. They change and fall off."

Deerpaw wriggled, like he was adjusting for a pounce. "But this one is nice."

"You say that about every leaf!"

Behind him, Mallowstep heard Kestrelsong snicker.

"Come on, it's his first leaffall. Let him have fun." She licked Mallowstep's shoulder. "I remember a certain someone getting soaked on the first snowfall last year."

"That was both of us," Mallowstep said. "Crickettail was so mad at us."

"Right, and this does no harm." Kestrelsong flicked her tail towards Deerpaw, who was currently diving into a pile of leaves that had blown against the wall. "I wish I still had his energy." She leaned her head against Mallowstep. "Mossytail keeps asking me if I want to go for a walk, but honestly, just climbing out of the gorge seems exhausting."

"Well, you're getting close to kitting."

Kestrelsong purred. "Hm. Still."

"Mallowstep! I found another one!"

He groaned. "This is why we can't encourage him. He'll never stop."

Kestrelsong lifted her head, her eyes shining. "Hey, Deerpaw! I want to see your leaf!" She started off across camp, and Mallowstep shook his head. She had put off moving into the nursery until recently, and it was like all the lethargy she had been fighting crashed into her at once.

She still resented it, alternating between pacing around camp and napping outside Mallowstep and Oakfrost's den, and took any challenge head on.

Mallowstep was dreading the day she couldn't quite make it out of the nursery with ease.

Deerpaw clutched a whole mouthfull of leaves, trilling and bunting against Kestrelsong.

"She loves me," he said, laying them out. "She wants to see my leaves."

"You're so dramatic," Mallowstep groaned. "Alright, c'mon. What do we have?"

"Mostly maples," Deerpaw said. "But this one is a birch."

"I like it," Kestrelsong said.

Deerpaw turned his gaze to Mallowstep. He sighed. "I like them too, Deerpaw." He licked his younger brother's head. "But if you wake me up again, I will tell Lichenpelt to make you clean out all the leaves in camp."

Deerpaw's ears flattened.

"He doesn't mean that," Kestrelsong said. "He's still got that feather you gave him in his nest."

Mallowstep's ears flattened.

"Hah! You do love me!"

"Of course I love you, furball," Mallowstep said. "I'm just tired. Between you and Piperheart and Wrenwhisker, I've been up all night and now all day."

"Sorry," Deerpaw muttered. "I forgot that they were hurt."

Mallowstep sighed. "It's alright." He was exhausted, after spending all night fetching blackberry leaves to soothe the stings they got trying to fetch him what they thought was abandoned honeycomb, as well as monitoring their breathing in case they had gotten too many stings, but he couldn't stay mad at Deerpaw.

Kestrelsong started to speak, but Deerpaw's head whipped to the side.

"Aspenface!" Deerpaw called. "Aspenface, come look what I found!" He gathered the leaves up, and Mallowstep sighed in relief.

Kestrelsong nosed his shoulder. "You wanna go nap?" she asked. "I hear there's an available patch of sun."

He purred. "Yeah, but if Deerpaw wakes us up, you're dealing with him."

[mallowstep]

a bit about me

matthew, mateo, or mallow | he/him | awab (assigned windclan at birth) | main i call people babe platonically, lemme know if it bothers you don't call me bestie if you're on anon

icon and header is art of morningsky and sunheart, done by @kudossi.

all old pinned posts are archived under #pinned. they may not contain accurate information.

fun facts, things you might want to know, and (regrettably) discourse notes below the cut.

i don't have a dni. (i believe dnis are inherently ableist.) however, here are a few things so you can make an educated decision on if you want to follow me:

i'm an adult. this blog is usually sixteen+. make an educated decision.

i rarely tag triggers. this includes whatever common trigger you assume i tag: i almost definitely don't. you can request i tag something, but i probably won't be able to accommodate you.

i'm anti-harassment. no exceptions.

curate your experience, because i won't do it for you.

some fun facts about me and questions people ask a lot:

i have "multiple people in my head" disorder. sometimes i use we/us. sometimes i talk abt myself in third person. sometimes i talk to myself.

used to be that i was constantly writing but it turns out that was "serious mental illness," so now i write sometimes and don't others.

if a post is rebloggable, you can reblog it.

dovewing, mistyfoot, and feathertail are some of my favorite characters.

mallowstep is an old OC who was originally a self-insert but stopped being one a long time ago.

a few discourse-y things:

this section exists because i do occasionally dip my toes in discourse, and because people occasionally kvetch about me. but this blog is not a discourse blog.

anything related to shipping discourse (commonly called pro/anti) is tagged #shipcourse. discourse in general is tagged #discourse.

if you're going to block me, i appreciate it if you block my main at the same time. it's linked above.

my formal and official stance is that my opinions are whatever you want. no one listens to me when i describe them, so i've decided to lean into it.

[mallowstep]

Hello Mallowstep, I'm sorry people are being rude and I want you to know I am in full support of you protecting your boundaries, and please let me know if I ever accidentally cross one. In the meantime, last spring I made a complete table of every possible warrior name from the current prefixes and suffixes, and here are some of the funniest names that came of it: Owlbee, Dapplestripe, Moss-spots (three Ss), Hawkmouse, and Bloommoon.

thank you for the kind message! i promise i'm not shy about speaking up about things, lmao.

okay GOD i can guess how you did that (or the way i would do it? excel + some array formulas) and that's still some dedication.

owlbee is making me smile because it's just! it's just fun to say! i'm enjoying it.

dapplestripe akdlfjs i'm thinking like...ik exactly the cat that'd apply to (mine, for example, but i'm on my computer so no pictures at the moment), but the name itself is so funny.

moss-spots! it makes me think they always have flecks of moss in their pelt! this is only vaguely related but i've seen at LEAST two ocs named mossy-ear, and i do insist on using a hyphen because the way the average person processes language, they're going to read it as moss-year, and that's just confusing.

hawkmouse! idk why but i really like this one. birds have weird names sometimes? like titmice! so i quite like this one honestly. and OH the vowels. that's good flow.

bloommoon! kladsjflk i'm a huge fan this one is just fun to say.

okay so far this is probably my favourite set of names because three have some EXCELLENT mouthfeel, one made me think of my kitties, and one gave me an excuse to bring up linguistics <3

[mallowstep]

chrysantheum, lilac, and orchid for the flower asks?

C — Ehhhh there are two answers. SkyClan and medicine cat (as per Mallowstep, local self insert who grew up to be an OC), and WindClan and medicine cat. Not sure which I feel more at the moment

L — honestly, this fandom ain't got nothing on ships. None of y'all surprise me. I came here from Homestuck.

O — ohh hard to say. I have a lot of opinions, but I think the biggest mistake is not letting ThunderClan be bad and wrong sometimes.

[mallowstep]

I think you once said Mallowstep was an oc you made a long time ago. I'm in a drawing mood and I was wondering if you could describe them so I could draw them? I'm bored lol

damn how can i NOT answer an ask like this? 💖💖💖

anyway the tldr on mallow is that he's my icon. little grey kitty cat. altho w some details.

he's basically a grey tabby. not silver, i tried to layer a bit of brown onto him when i made the icon to make him look a little bit warmer. and then he's got white...

okay, so when i designed him i was like ten years old and had no idea how cats work, and i don't want to Change this bc it's cute, so we're sticking w it! but he was born all white (hence the name), and as he's gotten older, he's got less and less white. at the age i typically picture him (like, 3-4yrs?), he's got one white front leg, the rest of his paws are white, and idk he's probably got a little flash of white on his chest. icon is inaccurate to that time because if i showed white the way i think of it on him it wouldn't show up very much/at all, but him having white is part of his character design.

anyway, not sure when he finishes Filling In, so to speak.

i haven't really thought terribly much about tabby types with him...i went w mackerel when i made the icon? but i'm not sure what i actually like for him. i think i actually like spotted rn? it'd b more fitting. or like. broken mackerel? i think that's when it's like...it's basically spots that follow the mackerel stripes? idk. i'm just i just really like spotted grey and white kitties. makes me think of my spotted grey and white kitties xd.

gave him kind of hazely eyes in the icon, i stand by that.

uhhh for size/build: pretty average? he's kind of Shaped. adkslfj;a that probably makes no sense but like. he's relatively Broad. got them wide shoulders. he's a med cat so he's not like. warrior muscles. but he's still Shaped. he's a square little kitty cat if that makes sense. i'm not sure if any of this makes sense because it's based on really weird associations in my own brain.

uhh his fur is pretty long? not full long hair? but long enough his tail's just a little feathery? (someone remind me to research cat hair length)

that's everything i can think of off the top of my head...i did not expect to have this many design thoughts on him adlskfj;

[mallowstep]

Hey, mallowstep fans! Do y'all like RiverClan? Do y'all like mallow's worldbuilding? Do y'all like OCs? Well, oh boy, have I got the thing for y'all!

(Here's my humble offering to the RiverClan appreciation collection. Thanks for everything! <3)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33375310

!!!!!!!!!! guys!!!!!!

(also jace add it to the riverclan collection i don't think you had when i was opening the tab with it so i could read it later but go on add it to the collection)

anyway what i've read of this is like. absolutely fantastic. made me feel so many things. go read it go read it.

<3

[mallowstep]

have u ever put any thought into where mallowstep (the oc) would exist in the human misty au? i have no idea if that's something you've thought about lol -duskwhisker

@duskwhisker

heh he exists exactly 0 lmao

his story does not take place at all in the actual skyclan: no one is related to the characters, etc.

now, in a Generic Human AU, maybe i'd come up w something

[mallowstep]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Warriors - Erin Hunter Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Characters, Larksong (OC), Briarleap (OC), Lilytail (OC), there are a lot of ocs but i'm not trying to make stupid numbers of oc tags, but i did want to tag the main 3 in case i write more with this Additional Tags: SkyClan (Warriors), Changing the Warrior Code (Warriors), kind of?, Worldbuilding, Folklore Series: Part 2 of the elders' den Summary:

Did you ever wonder how the Clans always know when to gather?

There was a time when they didn't. Yes, I know, it's strange to think about it now. But hush, I will tell you the story.

  An explanation for how the clans know to meet at the correct time.

this has already been posted here but i try to be organized about these things and that means posting a link to the archive.