#starvation arc

[dangthatsspiral]

I was in fact, a poor little bitch….

[saltwatersweets]

c!dream was only 21 when he was isolated starved and tortured what if i killed myself

[lloydfrontera]

actually kind of insane they chose that art style for cpsm now that i think about it. like. i'm not complaining at all. but these are the faces i'm gonna have to look at be physically and psychologically tortured in the latter half of the plot:

and i'm not sure i'm emotionally ready for that. why they gotta make them that cute. it's gonna make it hurt even more later on.

[crash-bump-bring-the-whump]

Dimitri whump? Did someone want Dimitri whump?

Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five

TWs: hypothermia, captivity, torture, beating, self sacrifice, fear, starvation mention, near death experience, being stripped (strictly in a fixing hypothermia context)

True to his word, Dimitri had been taken next. 

When the strikes with the bloodied metal rod had only earned the guards a vicious, leaping headbutt, they started talking strategy. Boots between his shoulder blades and on his wrists kept Dimitri pinned to the floor. He didn't bother to temper his expression when they mentioned the freezer. 

Dimitri hadn’t wanted to risk them deciding to choose Mariano over him. He had only just gotten to sleep again after a fitful night. Waves of pain kept ripping him from his rest whenever he tensed up from whatever his dreams held. It was worth it, to ensure that Mariano would be spared.

“Oh? Did we finally figure out what breaks the fearless Dimitri?” One taunted, gripping Dimitri by his biceps. “Not a fan of the cold? Does a little ice make you nervous?”

He was dragged through the warded hallway, fighting against their hold the entire way. They wanted to feel him struggle. They wanted to know that they had found a foothold to start breaking him down. 

Mariano was lucky his little pained noises were sort of cute.

“Rather be locked in the freezer than have to hear your voice.” Dimitri growled, rearing to headbutt the guard again as the other opened the freezer door. A third caught him in the hip with the rod, sending Dimitri staggering. The first one shoved his boot into Dimitri’s back, sending him forward. He stumbled, trying to catch his balance as the door slammed shut behind him.

“Alright then, we’ll see you later!” The one who’d kicked him called. They all walked off. He was alone.

Silence wrapped around Dimitri at the same time as the cold did. It wrapped its fingers around him, around his chest. It squeezed teasingly. A threat. 

Dimitri huffed. He crouched down, in the middle of the freezer. Soles of his boots to the floor, nose tucked to his knees. He reached up and started to loosely braid his hair. He didn’t have a hair elastic, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t be moving much anyway. He wrapped his arms around himself, hands tucked up under his biceps. 

This was going to hurt horribly in just an hour. His skin had already begun to crawl. His pulse had started to pick up.

It would be fine. Mariano had been beaten into the floor more times than Dimitri had thought he could handle. He wouldn’t have been able to survive this on top of it all, much less another beating. So it fell on Dimitri to take it. 

He just had to endure.

The others had to be there soon. Laredo, Izan, and Manuel wouldn’t leave them here to rot. Bastian certainly wouldn’t either, not when he’d have felt the pact dampeners kick in. They’d show up and raze this whole place to the ground. Laredo would help Dimitri stand and walk, might even carry him if he was fucked up enough from the cold. 

Laredo’s arms were always warm. He remembered the last time they’d shared a bed, and he’d wound up as Laredo’s teddy bear. He thought about how comfortable he’d been with Laredo against his back, pulled flush against the other mage. He missed it.

He thought about how Mariano had felt when he’d held him. His own arms were bony, lanky. His ankles were already aching from the air. Mariano was soft and warm, though. The muscle on him was nice, it made him pretty comfortable to cuddle up against. His hair smelled good too, even after days of torture. Not flowery, like his shampoo, just…nice. He smelled like home. It all warmed Dimitri’s face. 

It couldn’t last, though.

He started to shiver, taking deeper breaths as his hips started to cramp. This part of hypothermia was the most uncomfortable. The aches were only just settling in, and his mind hadn’t yet adjusted to the idea that this was how it was going to be. There would be no relief in the near future. No matter how many times he’d repeated this section of training for Luis, or was forced into it after disobeying an order, he never could get used to it. 

His traitorous body still expected to be coddled.

The shivering was getting harder. Ideally he would’ve been up and moving, but after days of only minimal food and water and sleep, he didn’t exactly have energy to spare. “That’s alright.” He whispered to himself. He couldn’t see his breath in his little huddle yet. “I’m alright.” He didn’t need to wear himself out by panicking.

They didn’t want him dead, just like they didn’t want Mariano dead. They both had valuable information. They could last. Mariano was strong.

He was even stronger.

Dimitri was shaking so hard that it was hard to keep his balance, now. He’d have to give in eventually, and expose more of himself to the icy surfaces. He’d have to accept that this would be sped up at some point. Not yet, though.

His teeth had started chattering, filling the silence of the freezer. His shoulders jumped and tensed with every wave of shivers that rolled through him. Every noise that escaped him pissed him off more. The irritation that roiled in his chest didn’t help to warm him like it usually did. 

Reflexively, Dimitri tried to pull his magic to his fingertips. The wards held firm. All he did was frustrate himself. 

It was easier to think that this was just some punishment, though. It was easier if he’d done this to himself. He sort of did, in a way. He’d elected to do this, he’d tipped his hand. He was doing this for Mariano.

Why was it not easy?

He’d watched Mariano offer himself up like it was nothing. Was he so out of practice that he’d lost the mentality for this? Had he lost the grit? Had prison made him soft too?

Dimitri tucked his face further into the alcove of his knees and torso. The cold air was creeping in. He could feel it in his nose, crawling down his throat. 

Why was this so much worse than he remembered?

Tiny whimpers escaped with every shiver, now. He needed to stay in that crouch for as long as possible. As soon as he fell, it would all be downhill from there. It always was. 

Dimitri’s skin ached. His back ached. His arms and legs ached–it was like he’d never be warm again. Like he’d never get to stretch out and relax. He almost lost his balance, needing to readjust his stance. They wouldn’t let him freeze to death. 

It was still unbearable. 

He could do this. He could endure. He’d barely been in there for an hour. It was fine. One time he’d done a stint of three for Luis, after refusing to be called off of a target. 

Dimitri wavered.

It was only for a moment, just a small lapse of endurance. It didn’t matter. Dimitri’s heart leaped into his throat as he was forced from his sad attempt at conserving heat. He gasped as he fell backwards, catching himself with his hands. The chill lanced up through his palms, through his wrists. He felt the cold ripping through his shirt like it wasn’t even there. 

He needed to stand. He needed to get his boots against the floor, and the rest of him off of it. He tried to prop himself up more, to get back up like he always did. He was a war mage. He was Dimitri, one of the longest lasting war mages. His name struck fear into the hearts of people who knew about him. He didn’t stay down.

Dimitri’s hands slipped. He hit the ground again. He couldn’t get back up. His arms were cramping up too badly. His legs trembled too hard. 

His whole back was laid out along the awful floor. His body heat was being leached away, faster than he could believe. Did it always happen so fast? His stomach trembled. Even his breathing stuttered and shook. Every inhale chilled him further. It brought the cold deeper into him, undoing all his hard work. 

The door cracked open. One of the guards poked his head in. It was the one he’d headbutted earlier. “Ready to come out? It’s been a while. I brought dinner.” He had a cup and a paper plate with half a sandwich in his hands. “All I need from you is a little bit of info, and then we can get you warmed up and Mariano to a doctor.”

“F-f-fuc-ck y-you.” Dimitri stuttered, suddenly aware of how hard it was to talk. His throat was unbearably tight. His jaw didn’t want to move beyond the painful trembling.

“Alright then. Thought you could use a pick-me-up, but guess you still want to be difficult.” Dimitri yelped as water, cold water, was tossed onto him from the cup. It immediately soaked into his clothes, into his hair, and his skin crawled as it chilled. 

The door shut again.

“Fu-fuc-ck…” Dimitri whispered as silence fell again, his stomach now gripped by more than just the cold. Dread started to creep in, winding through him. He could feel his magic ebbing, crawling deeper into his chest and chasing his waning body heat. “Fuc-ck th-this-s…” Something pricked at his eyes, and his chest hitched. 

He wasn’t going to do this. This was not going to happen. He was not going to have some pathetic crying fit over water being thrown on him.

He could die here if they didn’t know what they were doing.

Dimitri finally managed to curl up on his side. His hands were stiff and aching. Even being pressed to his stomach didn’t help. He should technically strip, but there was no way to dry himself off. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction anyway.

Another shudder ripped a sob from him. It was involuntary. Dimitri hated it. He hated it so much. It would’ve made his face flare hot from embarrassment, normally. As he was, he couldn’t even feel the heat. 

He wanted to kill the guard who’d thrown water on him. 

He knew he could hardly lift his arm.

Time melted away as more cracking, shaking noises escaped. Slowly, horribly, they died off. There was only silence, then, and Dimitri drifted in it. The harsh lighting of the bulb above dimmed as his eyes drooped closed. 

Then hands, hands and shouting and movement. Someone was being called an idiot. Something warm was draped over him. The hands were strong as they lifted him off the freezer floor. There were three pairs, three people, all fussing over him. His hair was wrapped into a towel and away from his face. His clothes were pulled off of him, exchanged for new ones. 

“Careful, careful. Don’t be too rough.” A distant voice said. “He could die if we’re not gentle.” Scolding. Manuel? Dimitri didn’t catch what was said next, too exhausted to keep following the conversation. 

Warmth filled Dimitri’s awareness when he woke up next. He was still so cold, but his face was tucked up against what felt like a heater. His arm was draped over something soft and warm. His hair was down and dry. The smell of home filled his nose. 

When Dimitri opened his eyes, he saw dried blood, black and flaking off of Mariano’s skin. His face was sweaty and flushed with what was probably a fever, given how unusually warm Mariano was. The other mage was still in the clothes he’d been wearing when they’d been taken. Rattling, struggling breaths eked past Mariano’s parted lips. 

Looking further, Dimitri saw the bars of their cell. He felt the hard concrete beneath his shoulder and aching hip. His chest twisted. He’d been rescued, but not by the people he’d wanted. 

Dimitri pressed his face back into Mariano’s shoulder.

Dimitri cried.

[stemms]

After c!Dream’s first departure from Logstedshire, c!Sam paid c!Tommy a visit and brought him food, as well as offered some words of comfort. There’s a chance that c!Dream didn’t really leave after bidding goodbye to c!Tommy and Ghostbur, and if that's the case, that exchange between them must’ve inspired him to start starving the latter.

Because c!Tommy rejected any item that he thought was given to him out of pity but didn’t reject c!Sam’s food, the man decided to begin starving him. Maybe then he’d learn to be more grateful and appreciate his help more… And it seemed to have worked wonders in the future because c!Tommy began associating food with his owner and his general behaviour; if he was good, he was allowed to eat, and if he was bad, he wasn’t. And even when c!Dream wasn’t there to control his plaything’s feeding schedule, c!Tommy dealt with it admirably by starving himself if his behaviour didn’t appear satisfactory to him.

[djsouled]

break me, break me, chasing the enemy got a deal with the devil, but i got the stamina ! higher than anything i've ever seen or been right now, everything, everything's empty starving, craving, chasing the remedy i got used to the torture, but no one deserves to be alone break me, break me, chasing the enemy and my soul is hurting, but i got the stamina !

[hopalongfairywren]

hm, for pitdd worldbuilding, how about Exile? what went down there?

c!Tommy was exiled as in canon, and in fact not much diverges until the actual start of Exile, however I shifted the timeline a lot, so now exile lasts about a month. ( November 30th to January 1st) when c!Tommy finally makes a break for Techno's cabin.) I wanted to make exile a bit longer, because it does contain a lot in terms of plot advancement. Also I am horrible with keeping things chronologically neat, so preserving November 16th is as best as I am really gonna do lmao. Where Tommy would end up going was left ambiguous by Dream, as he only mentioned, "northeast of the L'manberg habour." c!Tommy ends up being dragged for 3 fucking days across the unnamed at that point sea and then made a sudden, sharp turn upwards- towards the rocky cold beach shores and sparsely wooded meadows of Logstedshire. (Disclaimer, I am absolutely horrible with locations and directions. Awful. So the Dream SMP map and geography has been slightly altered, I try to stick as close to canon as I can while trying to make it more realistic) This area bordered on a subartic tundra, making growing food hard even in the best of times due to the lack of resources, nutrient poor and rocky soils, and lack of Fresh water. Even further northeast, was Techno's base (which fell in the gray area of claimed Dream SMP lands) Now in PITDD, Logstedshire was already an established place by the time it fell under Dream's command shortly before Exile itself. The town which sat on the very edge of the shores, just past where hightide would sweep it away? A very old, nearly abandoned town of less than a dozen (yes we have dsmp citizens just to flesh this goddamn server out) residents. Tommy and Dream made a very quick stop in town to get supplies for him, before taking Tommy further west along the coast, to an even higher area slightly more inland, where c!Tommy would make camp. Tommy just like in canon, regularly had his things blown up, including eventually even the items Dream had allowed him to keep that he bought in Logstedshire proper. A lot of Tommy's time without Dream was spent trying not to die of hypothermia, digging around for seafood during low tide, and trying to maintain a fire with what wood he did have. He was visited as in canon, although most of the times he was yoinked from his beach to the actual town before hand which gave the impression c!Tommy was at least staying in an actual house instead of jackshit nowhere. c!Tommy however, memorizes the route into the town, and uses it to get more food and water without Dream's knowledge. He also befriends a local, MD. (I will not fucking say Mexican Dream more than I have too.) There's also the whole plotline of c!Tommy drowning in the ocean, I have a post about that somewhere, but basically it ties in with c!Dream's origin story. :) Also in PITDD, nobody else can 'see' ghostbur. Only c!Tommy can see him at all times, and he has the ability to make Ghostbur visible for short amounts of time to other people (although this is very draining for c!Tommy to do)

[despair-to-future-arcs]

How’s Akane doing? Are you handling your new diet well?

*Hajime, Fuyuhiko, Sonia and Kazuichi rush down the hall* c'mon c'mon, please be okay Akane!

For the love of god, please be okay!

???: Why can't I remove this thing?! I wanna get some meat!

???: Look if you don't have that feeding tube, you'll throw up if you eat anything so please keep that in there.

???: That is bullshit!

Wait... that voice...

All 4: AKANE! *they rush into the room where they heard the 2 voices*

...

...

...

A...Ak-...Akane...? Is... Is that you?

*When the 4 went into the room, they saw an older women helping what look to be a much skinnier Akane where she was nothing but skin and bones barely recognizable but she look to have the same hairstyle and skintone, wearing a patient robe which she had a feeding tube in her nose, blankets along with a heater near her*

...can I eat anything yet?

Well not yet but I'll be sure to prepare your first meal but rest for a bit and also please don't remove that tube, that is the only reason your talking right now.

Ye-Yeah... I know, I won't do it still, are the others okay?

Akane?! Is that you, what happen to you!

Huh? Guys...?

Hey Hajime, Fuyuhiko, Kazuichi and Sonia! Your all okay and seems I remember you all too!

Ye-Yeah we're fine but...but... but what about you?! You look awful!

Oh... right yeah, that...

Well seems what Junko say was true from the sounds of it, even if I don't get it; I was the one that strave myself it seems.

Ak-Ak...Akane...!

*Hajime rushed over but-*

*The women step between him and Akane* Hu-Huh?!

Wh-Wait a moment, you need to not touch her! She's still healing right now.

I would only suggest to hold her hand or help her to the bathroom but please don't do anything rash.

Ye-Yeah... sorry about that ma'am... *Sonia, Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi appear beside Hajime as Hajime held onto Akane's hand.*

Man... you really did a number on yourself, huh? Well... at least you seem okay thankfully...

Ye-Yeah... I feel really hungry but I need to be put on some diet...

[meet-again]

None of you understand how crazy i am about the way we meet Zoro. Like he is actually being tortured at that moment. He's bound to a crucifix in the sun and hasn't eaten for 3 weeks. Helmepppo supposedly comes out regularly to beat him while he's defenceless.

He's doing this despite way outmatching the marines because he want the little girl to be safe. After 3 weeks of starvation he still refuses food so the girl won't get in trouble. Then luffy comes along promising to break him out and he says no cus he has to save the girl.

It's only when coby reveals that zoro's execution is the next day and helmeppo was lying that zoro agrees to be freed.

AND THEN IT'S NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN!!

[seraphtrevs]

So idk how much you know of the og story of the hunchback of notre dame or the musical, but like. chuck and jimmy are frollo and jehan

YES!!!

This is from the stage adaptation of Disney's Hunchback, AKA my favorite Disney movie. The Frollo in the show is closer to the novel characterization than the movie is, and they keep Jehan!

And thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to tell this story: My husband and I went to a community theater production of Hunchback, and the actor who played Frollo played it with HUGE Chuck McGill energy, to the point that I was like "is this a conscious choice." He even looked a little like Michael McKean. VERY fun for me and I gave him a standing ovation.

[maythray]

neeeed to start drawing little comics for my object oc world.. crayon and cor are on my mind always :)

[psn-stalling]

Dude you can’t mope forever you gotta live a little

I'm not moping...?

I'm genuinely just comfortable right now. I'm not even moping currently...

[hexoskeleton-anonymous]

//honestly until I can figure out how to write the end of this arc, M. is probably going to stay trapped in his own house by one of his school bullies and slowly starve to death

[johnnytopside]

so hungry but my roommates are fighting in the kitchen

[cupcakeslushie]

⚠️ TW: gaslighting/manipulation, starvation, implied cannibalism, vomiting (non graphic), self harm, mental and physical abuse of a child.

This one goes pretty dark, please read at your own discretion!

Leo Arc Part 3

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The mind is a complicated machine, and it protects itself in strange ways.

Starting to think Leo knows more than he’ll admit when it comes to remembering his brothers?

[bonefall]

Clear Sky is a Monster.

Of all the characters in Warrior Cats, I think Clear Sky was the most heavily mishandled.

At every turn, the narrative begs you to sympathize with him, to "understand" the "misunderstood." To this end, his brother Gray Wing is used to "keep faith" in his inherent goodness, his abused son, Thunder, is forced to go back to him over and over, and his second dead wife is completely lobotomized in death to absolve him of all sin.

Because of this, of all this set-up for the "redemption" arc they're trying to tell in the last three books, DOTC is Clear Sky's story. Everything primarily exists to benefit and serve his arc. Thunder and Gray Wing might have POVs, but HE is the character who truly drives the plot. So in order to HAVE conflict for that back half, two evil foreign cats, Slash and One Eye, are summoned to act as contrast.

Their narrative purpose is to display "true evil" to make Clear Sky look less bad in comparison. Unfortunately, Clear Sky is the most malignant, deadly character who has ever blighted Warrior Cats.

The "pure evil" examples they summon aren't effective contrasts because they're flat. Clear Sky is what real abusers look like.

His rhetoric is what it sounds like when a cult leader is trying to keep control over a group. He lies when it benefits him, justifies his actions with his tragic backstory to assuage his guilt and manipulate others, and violently lashes out when his feelings are hurt before blaming his victim for making him angry.

He only made "some mistakes" in that SOME of his actions were accidents-- the vast majority of them were malicious, self-absorbed, intentional choices to punish, hurt, and kill others.

I've spoken about Bumble. I've tallied his body count next to Tigerstar. I've talked about how his infant son's death was his fault in sequel books, and called attention to the infected wound face shoving scene that no one talks about. I can't fit every detail into a single post-- because he's so rancid that I would practically be posting entire books.

So what I want to do here is tackle the heart of Clear Sky. Everything he does, everything he's motivated by, is absolute and utter control over other people. He leverages his "trauma" to evoke empathy from his targets to make them easier to manipulate. He's a dirty liar. He breaks down to physical violence when all other tactics stop working.

He's one of the most severe and realistic abusers I've ever read about outside of very adult literature-- and when I read the reasons why he's attracted to Star Flower, my stomach immediately lurched.

The Killing of Misty

Starvation Rhetoric and the Memory of Fluttering Bird

Aside; a question

Hunger as a punishment; he doesn't care about starvation

Exoneration arc

Predation: Star Flower is a replacement for his son.

I think that index is an evocative content warning. But to say it again; this post contains child and domestic abuse, physical assault, public humiliation, incestuous grooming implications, and a lot of murder.

I need to start with the death of Misty. I see a few people saying that Clear Sky killed her for "being on his land" or trespassing, but this is actually a misstatement that I feel is important to correct.

Misty and her children were on their own land. It was her house. Clear Sky killed her to take it.

This is one of the most important details to remember about Clear Sky, that this is the consistent end point of his obsessive need for power and control. By harassment, by violence, or by death, he will brutalize anyone who does not give him what he wants, or who makes him feel bad, and find some way to justify it.

This territory expansion was for no logical reason. There was plenty of food and plenty of land. Any aggression that's happening on this territory is in response to how he's been stealing land and mauling people.

When it's found out she was fighting to defend her children, Clear Sky's immediate response is to slaughter them too.

Petal doesn't have milk either. It wasn't about the logistics. He wanted to kill the kids, because looking at them made him feel bad, and she just managed to stop him.

Starvation Rhetoric and the Image of Fluttering Bird

It is often said that Clear Sky is doing this because he's "traumatized" from how his little sister, Fluttering Bird, starved to death in the mountains. That the emotion came from wanting to feed people. That's incorrect. It wasn't about food. Fluttering Bird's death, and all the "starvation" he's faced, are used as manipulation tactics to guilt, influence, and control other characters, particularly when he might meet resistance or be held accountable for something.

It was always, ALWAYS, about control.

He does not care about actually helping people; "Starvation Rhetoric" through Fluttering Bird is an image he can invoke to justify the actions that are as bloody and cruel as the one this post starts off with. Either in his own mind, or in the minds of the cats he's manipulating.

He does this to Falling Feather, before slicing her face open in anger when she doesn't buy it. He does it to Rainswept Flower, before he strangles her to death. And he does it in the chapter just before Misty's murder, both to his Clan and then to Thunder,

Clear Sky climbed up in front of an entire crowd and gave a grand speech about hunger and "adjusting" the borders around territory he plans to conquer. When he gets to "forgiveness" he feigns pain to make his point because he is performing. If the sentiment is not a total lie, then at bare minimum, he is intentionally playing this up for the crowd.

He is rallying the Clan to support his violence against the cats whose land he wants to steal, and selling it with his life's hardships.

The audience is clearly well-trained, because several cats recognize the cue, particularly Frost who is praised for loudly comforting him. This signals "loyalty" because showing your sympathy towards his "suffering" is how this type of emotional manipulation works. It creates a persecuted, righteous in-group.

He's also apparently used this tactic before, since this entire crowd knows what "I Would Never Forgive Myself " means.

He's made sycophants out of his followers. Like a cult leader.

His abused son, however, hasn't been fully indoctrinated yet. Seeing Thunder uncomfortable with the idea of expanding the borders for no reason, Clear Sky calls him over for a personal propaganda session.

Clear Sky begins the exchange by calling this a "duty" and a "great honor." Immediately framing what he plans to do as righteous.

He puts on the act when Thunder shows resistance, dramatically pausing to let the guilt trip sink in.

"Thunder waited, realizing that he said the wrong thing."

And then Clear Sky launches into infantilizing Thunder, talking down to him like a child who's too inexperienced to see the "signs of starvation," acting like he's being "patient" in "explaining" it.

And then we get it. "I know what starvation looks like (so stop trusting your own eyes) because I have been through more than you (so shut up and do what I tell you), and I'm being a HERO for what I'm about to do (so opposing me would make you a bad person)."

Thanks to these crocodile tears, looking "moved," the act works. The victim is immediately wracked by guilt because the abuser seems genuinely emotional.

He even lovebombs him over the corpse of Misty in the next chapter, making Thunder feel threatened.

Thunder doesn't have the words to describe what is happening to him, but he knows that this sudden snap to praise isn't natural. That something is very wrong.

A Question.

Before I move on to show that this IS an act, and that he is lying about how important avoiding starvation is to him, I will ask a question. Please think about it, because I promise I mean it genuinely;

Why does it matter if Clear Sky actually believes this or not?

The victims are just as dead either way, yes? Thunder is just as abused and guilt tripped. The entire Clan has been driven towards violence while coddling and cooing at their Supreme Leader. Clear Sky is slowly annexing the entire forest. If you have ever accepted that he had "good intentions" as an excuse for the harm he did, or that abuse and murder was what he imagined was "the right thing," or that his trauma justifies the way he leverages his own pain to make cats do what he wants... why do you think that?

Why does that make it morally better, as the narrative concludes? Would you accept the same for every other WC villain or antagonist? Tigerstar? Slash? Tom the Wifebeater? Brokenstar? Rainflower?

How could you tell the difference, if you couldn't read their actual thoughts on the page? ...are there any other "good intentions" you've accepted, somewhere else?

Don't share that answer with me. It's a question for you. Sit with it.

Hunger as a punishment; he doesn't care about starvation.

...but, regardless, Clear Sky is not deluded about starvation. It's a justification for his obsessive need for control, and always has been. There was no shortage before stealing Misty's land and kits, he is fully aware that there's more prey than they can eat.

He punishes Falling Feather with hunger and harassment for thought crime, by briefly thinking of leaving. But first, he invokes Fluttering Bird at her like he did before, flying into a screeching fit of rage when she doesn't buy it,

"I'm sorry I hurt you... BUT" is THE wifebeater phrase. THE stereotypical line of a domestic abuser. "I'm sorry I hit you... but it's your fault for making me so angry."

She went through the same exact starvation he did, calls out that he's just framing his greed as being for the collective benefit of his subjects, and is assaulted for that.

When we're in his head, we see his REAL concerns are not about hunger. He invoked Fluttering Bird to try and make her shut up and bow down to him; what he's focused on is her "gossiping" and "whining" about the open wound he left on her face. He's still furious at Fircone and Nettle for how Thunder QUESTIONED him. So he will "strengthen their commitment."

When "starvation" DOES enter his thoughts, it is to assuage his own guilt and JUSTIFY what he already did. What he already WANTS to do. It's post-hoc.

He had to suppress his own guilt at how his greed and ambition made these children into orphans, completely unable to admit that he's ever been wrong or has a change to make, so he invokes the starvation rhetoric at himself to excuse it. So he feels less bad.

Everything, EVERYTHING, in this confrontation is about his pleasure at being able to torment his subordinates. To continue the abuse when the initial confrontation is over. If it isn't pride in his power and control over them, it's plain sadism.

He invokes starvation in front of the crowd, again, after being pleasured at the guilt in her eyes, hoping that everyone sees her writhing with shame and embarrassment. Fear wasn't at the root of why he assaulted Falling Feather; rage was, and now he feels better that he got to humiliate the person who offended him.

Starvation Rhetoric is a manipulation tactic.

It goes RIGHT BACK to his twisted idea of "loyalty." Obedience.

A cat who's actually, primarily concerned about starvation wouldn't encourage other cats to steal her food if they feel like it. He wouldn't be using it as a weapon to retaliate against her because she hurt his feelings.

This is paired with the fact he restricts and monitors the diet of his cats. They eat when he allows it, and only what he gives them, in spite of there being piles of dead animals rotting, going to waste.

We then find he personally doles out food from these piles, plucking carcasses off them and flinging them at his cats, one by one. Probably so he can watch how grateful they are to him and make sure they stay a little hungry-- and definitely because it means he can control WHO gets to eat at all.

If Clear Sky chucked a mouse at Falling Feather and someone took it? She would have gone hungry. For not groveling to him. Like when he decides to starve her brother; a hostage who he promised to feed and care for.

He's a dishonest snake. He lied about abandoning baby Thunder, calling it a "test of strength," he lied about Bumble's death, he lied about keeping Jackdaw's Cry fed.

And he lied about starvation to Thunder, because he was just making up an excuse to steal more land.

He wasn't "seeing the signs" of starvation when he moved to "adjust" his borders. Even FURTHER into this so-called "delusional slip" into tyranny, he's freely admitting that it takes months for a person to starve when it benefits his sadistic need to punish undeserving cats.

"Dumb moor cats, always expecting more than they DESERVE."

Not need. DESERVE. It's not a delusion about starvation and it never was. STARVATION is how he CONTROLS SkyClan, and once again he's angry that his pleasure has been sullied.

The massacre at Fourtrees was started over Jackdaw's Cry catching a bat after being starved, on land that Clear Sky has decided RIGHT NOW that he also owns, because it mades him think about being disobeyed.

The bat is forgotten as Clear Sky pivots into a tantrum, wanting to make his family HURT for being 'disloyal' and 'ungrateful.' For leaving him. He LIKES seeing people grovel, cower, and beg, getting PLEASURE from watching how he can hurt and command other cats, and if you don't give him what he wants he will kill you.

Which, make no mistake, is what the "First Battle" actually is. Clear Sky attempting to murder those who don't worship him or swear their undying fealty to him and his twisted dictatorship. Particularly his own son, the most prominent victim of his emotional abuse.

It's not about the bat. It was never even about food or starvation. It's about retaliation for any perceived lack of control.

Once again he breaks out starvation rhetoric to try and manipulate someone, and when Rainswept Flower doesn't buy it just like Falling Feather didn't, he murders her in another fit of entitled rage.

Exoneration arc.

At the end of this battle that was entirely his own fault, we're introduced to the hollowed-out ghost of Storm. She has been flushed of all personality, so that she can be the perfect narrative mouthpiece.

She accepts yet another Fluttering Bird Invocation in spite of how we saw it's not sincere. He was lying the entire time and using starvation rhetoric as a manipulation tactic to get control over his victims.

And that's it.

That's the consequence. Storm's a little mad at him until he says "Buttering Flird" and she swoons.

He doesn't have to be ""afraid"" anymore because the cats just invented an afterlife to believe in. He keeps all of his power and influence and gets off scot-free, because "guilt" (which we SAW him repressing anyway) is supposed to be the best consequence for murder, abuse, and tyranny.

The husk of Storm even materializes again at the end of book 5 to say it outright; he "never drove anyone away." Not even after Book 4 where it's also his fault One Eye took over his Clan for 5 minutes. It was just destiny.

His "redemption arc" is just an exoneration arc. The narrative doesn't think he really did anything wrong.

EVERYTHING about Clear Sky has ALWAYS been about making grabs at power, but since the narrative didn't see a problem with him extorting his personal tragedy and the death of a child, his own sister, he continues doing it. As if these behaviors are normal personality 'traits'.

Even when that sister COMES OUT OF HEAVEN TO YELL AT HIM DIRECTLY,

He finds a way to COMPLETELY miss the point, so he can interpret her words in a bizarrely specific way that will conveniently end with him being the supreme dictator of the entire forest. Just like he ALWAYS does.

It's the entire 5th book. Clear Sky trying to convince everyone, including himself, that it's Fluttering Bird who wants him to grab at power, NOT himself and his own ambition, that THIS time, he promises, for realsies, it's actually about keeping everyone safe.

But just like ALWAYS, because he does not change, when this tried and true tactic manages to work on Thunder, during ANOTHER exchange where he's dramatically pausing and using the cold shoulder to make his pitiable act land harder,

He lapses right back into bullying his child, creating situations where Thunder will have difficulty or be put in pain, so that he can have an excuse to mock and belittle him.

And this all comes to a head when Clear Sky takes romantic interest in Star Flower, his abused son's previous romantic interest.

Predation: Star Flower is a replacement for his son.

Direct parallels are drawn between Thunder and Star Flower. Star Flower contrasts her loyalty to her father to Thunder's "disloyalty" to his own, in an appeal to Clear Sky.

Clear Sky brushes it off for now, citing that he cannot accept her because of who her father was.

But then, Thunder makes the connection between himself and her, because he knows what it is like to be a victim of parental abuse and correctly clocks that they have this in common,

On his vouch, Clear Sky accepts her into the group. She starts trying to offer himself to him; hunting twice as hard as the others, self-imposing harsh conditions like taking a wet sleeping spot. In their second interaction, Clear Sky begins to take interest in her.

Thunder himself points out that Star Flower is seeking an abusive tyrant to replace her own father, which reads like he's deflecting the stress of how his father is abusing him to deny a connection he already made. As if Thunder sees so much of himself in Star Flower that it makes him (rightly) feel sick that his father is romantically invested in her;

Thunder then goes on to follow his own advice and form his own Clan, because Clear Sky IS like One Eye... while Star Flower remains here. At Clear Sky's side. Because she feels like this is what she "deserves," that she "understands" him, truly believing that her crime (warning her father that Clear Sky brought an ambush in case he lost the 1 on 1 death match he requested, which he did) are on the same level as his abuse and murders.

Clear Sky is attracted to Star Flower because, in his own words;

She is young.

She will not betray him.

She won't question him,

and she obeys him.

We've seen what "betrayal" is to Clear Sky-- not taking his excuses or his beatings. To "disobey" is betrayal. To "question" is disobedience.

These are ALL things he's tried to drill into Thunder. We saw him happily exploit their difference in age to tell him he can't have an opinion. He constructed humiliating games in retaliation for ever being questioned. He tried to murder Thunder and his friends for their "betrayal." Even now, being disobeyed causes explosive reactions.

He was previously grooming the things he now identifies as attractive in a young woman into his child.

If your body becomes too useless to serve him, like Frost and Jagged Peak, you're thrown out. If you don't unquestioningly follow his bloody commands, like Falling Feather or Thunder, you're subjected to abuse and public humiliation. If you're in his way, like Misty or Rainswept Flower were, you die.

If you meet all of his expectations...

You will be in a horrific position where you will never have agency over your own life ever again. Every move, every word, will have to be carefully crafted so that he feels like you're "loyal" to him by the arbitrary standard he feels that day. Never step out of line, never doubt his decisions, never live for anyone except him and the children you will give him, not even for a moment, because then you will not be "worthy" of his grace.

Star Flower would be in serious danger if this series wasn't written by abuse apologists. They accidentally wrote a perfect reflection of how child abuse victims often find themselves in unsafe and toxic romantic relationships with large age gaps which mirror what they went through as kids; but this team doesn't clock it, playing this relationship as wholesome and genuine.

He finally has someone who ""understands"" him. Because they think the character they wrote is misunderstood.

but reality is plain to see.

Clear Sky is a monster. The most realistic monster in all of WC-- far, far closer to real life predators and domestic abusers than the "born evil" rogues like Slash and One Eye. The Erins seem to believe that what separates Clear Sky from One Eye is "fundamental" good and "fundamental" evil, when the truth is that they'd be separated by very, very little.

If they had realistic motivations, they would be exactly like the character their existence is meant to excuse.

Slash and One Eye HAD to be kept flat and one-dimensional. If the book was more earnest, the only difference between Clear Sky and One Eye would have been that One Eye is stronger. So strong that Clear Sky needed to manipulate the other groups into helping him.

While anyone can change, not everyone will, and Clear Sky has no reason to. He sees no consequences. He has everything he wants; power, a pretty and obedient young mate, and unchecked authority over a brainwashed forest cult. There is always a victim on a leash, a naive enabler, or a bunch of desperate and gullible marks somewhere in his proximity to bully into doing his dirtywork

Whether his "intentions" were sincere or not (evidence points towards not) at its root it was always about control. Power is something he perpetually keeps, and continues to violently use.